Songbird
by Ayai
Summary: Desi Vargas's cousin really wanted her to transfer to his school in New York. She did willingly, only to learn of a situation that she and her new friends could all be murdered for. Follow Desi through school life, love, and dodging bullets. OC x Prussia
1. Chapter 1

Hetalia World Academy was an exclusive school. Usually only nations could enroll, but my dear cousin pulled some strings for me. He had begged for me to transfer to his school, now that we were closer he wanted to be together often.

Cold wind bit my cheeks, and I pulled my jacket closer around me. It sure was colder in New York than in California. I should probably go inside the big building in front of me rather than just hanging around outside it. I pushed open the heavy wooden doors of HWA and stepped into the lobby of the school.

The school looked deserted. The big staircase in front of me was empty, and the classroom wing to my left was silent. I was confused for a second; schools should never be this empty or quite. I was instantly paranoid, as I usually was whenever something seems a bit abnormal.

With a tight feeling in my stomach, I walked into a door to my right that was labeled "Office". A secretary looked up at me from her desk at the front of the room. The office was a tidy place, with a small hallway behind the secretary's desk and a couple chairs in the corner. The walls were painted an ugly beige color that in my opinion didn't go with the red carpet.

I read the nametag on the secretary's shirt. Her name was Ms. Hobbs. She spoke to me in a friendly voice, "You must be the new student." She smiled at me, and I nodded and smiled back.

Ms. Hobbs took off her glasses and set them on her desk. She checked her watch and right after she picked up the pencil next to a sheet of paper the bell rang. I jumped a bit, the noise startling me.

She laughed at my reaction and said "Here's your schedule." Ms. Hobbs handed me a sheet of paper, I didn't look at it and just shoved it into my purse. "That was the lunch bell just now so why don't you follow the crowd into the Dining Hall. Your cousin should be there and he will help you find where your next class is."

I flashed her a small smile, "Grazie!" I called to her while walking out the door.

The once quite hallway was filled with students now; most of them were heading in one general direction so I followed them. I walked through the classroom wing and took a right. Two giant wooden doors were propped open letting students swarm inside.

After managing to get myself through the doors, the crowd dispersed in different directions so I could really see, because most of the people were really tall compared to me. I glanced around the Dining Hall, it was huge! There were four very long rectangular tables in the center of the room, each one looking like it could easily hold 50 people. There were also booths pressed up against the wall, looking shiny and brand new.

I looked around at all the people around me. There was no way there could be so many people at a school reserved for nations! People were still coming in behind me, no longer flooding, but a steady stream. A lot of people were already sitting at the tables and booths eating. The two lunch lines were jammed packed.

My feet were starting to hurt from standing for too long, so I started to look around for my cousin. My eyes scanned the room. It was so hard to look for one boy in the middle of all these people. I saw natives from every country I could imagine. I saw a lot of Americans, which was to be expected because it's America and all that junk.

Scanning…. Scanning….. Is that him? No.

I walked around the Dining hall to get a better view. While walking, I feel an invisible tug force my eyes from the tables to the booths. I swerve my vision to the corner booth, which was holding the person I was looking for. He turned his head and we both saw each other at the same time, a smile forming on both of our faces. He jumped out of the booth filled with his friends and ran towards me, calling my name as I shouted his.

"Desideria!"

"Feliciano!"

Feli hit me with the force of a small elephant, almost knocking me over since I was shorter than him. He hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe. After a few seconds like this, I succeeded in pushing him off and he turned back to his friends to introduce me.

"Everyone, this is Desideria." Feli wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer. I've missed him soooo much.

The corner booth filled with Feli's friends was silent. A tall guy with pretty blue eyes spoke first.

"Mein gott, it's another Italy." I recognized the accent and looked up at Feli excitedly. He had told me of a certain German he had a teeny-tiny thing for. Yeah right, teeny-tiny, HAH. I could always see through my adorable Feliciano. I nudged him in the side and when he looked at me I winked at him.

He smiled at me, not getting it, and turned around to face the German he had called Ludwig on the phone. I studied Ludwig carefully. He was one of the many blondes in the room (seriously, why is everyone blonde?) and his mouth was slightly agape, like he couldn't comprehend the situation in front of him.

"Ve~ we do look alike don't we?" Feli grinned at his friend. Ludwig glanced to the other people in the booth. A Japanese man nodded his head. The other person in the booth was another blonde with bushy eyebrows, he looked irritated. I thought he was glaring at me, but when I looked over my shoulder I saw yet _another_ blonde walking up to us with, get this, ANOTHER BLONDE. As they got closer I could see just how much the resembled each other, the only difference being the blonde on the left had longer hair.

From the aura the first blonde gave off, I was sure he was American, but not just _any_ American, I was almost sure he was the person who represented the whole country. Not that every American acts like they own the world, even if I'm full blooded Italian I still live here, so that makes me American, right?

"Hey dudes!" the American smiled at us and plopped into the open space next to the frowning man. The quieter blonde sat next to him after he scooted over to make more room. "Why are we in the Cafeteria? Why aren't we eating outside?"

"It's freezing outside you git, we're stuck in here until spring." So the irritable person was British, I could obviously tell from his cute accent. It made me want to pinch his cheeks, but also to hide behind the nearest person. Everyone knew the Brits were short tempered and scary.

I shifted my weight nervously. The Dining Hall was really full and I didn't like being in such a big crowd. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering at full force when I had the feeling that something sinister was behind me.

My entire body tensed up as I slowly turned my head to see a very, very, tall scary person. My Italian instincts screamed at me, _it's a Russian, run_!I grabbed onto Feliciano's arm and held tight, not being able to tear my gaze away from the violet eyes that towered above me. I shivered in fear and I heard the American laugh at me.

"Who's this chick?" he asked Feli "She's so scared of Ivan. Don't worry cutie, he won't do anyth-" He was cut off by my shriek when the Russian called Ivan picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

I called to Feliciano as Ivan briskly walked out of the Dining Hall and back into the classroom wing. I knew yelling, pleading, and screaming at the 6 foot Russian wasn't going to get him to let me down, but I couldn't resist an innocent, "_S-__Si prega di__mettere__giù_..."

He either didn't understand my italian or just didn't care because he kept walking until we were back into the lobby of HWA, he started up the stairs to go to the second floor. He was probably taking me to some secret rape cave like my mamma used to warn me about.

I started crying and Ivan stopped and looked at me. He lifted me off his shoulder and set me down at the top of the stairs.

"Do not cry, Малые один. Everything is alright now, da?" He smiled at me. My terror only increased. I looked up and down the hall I was standing in, searching for an escape route. It was just another classroom wing, I couldn't see past the corners at the end of the hall, but I guessed it was more useless rooms. My only option would be to jump out of a window, if I could get it open. It was probably a long fall, I was scared of heights, but I was more frightened of the Russian in front of me, still smiling away.

I wonder how many times I have been in situations similar to this one. I get chased around by scary people often, but I don't usually get kidnapped by a Russian.

"Why did you steal me?" I asked, trying to sound brave.

Ivan looked surprised for a moment, then answered "You were nervous being in such a big crowd, da? I only helped you out." He said it like I was stupid for not catching on.

My fear ebbed a bit. So he thought he was helping me. Well okay, looks can be deceiving I guess. I let the air out of my lungs that I'd been holding subconsciously. I was about to thank the Russian for his attempted kindness when I heard the tear filled voice of Feliciano.

"Where did that scary Ivan take my Desi?" Feli cried out to someone I couldn't see. My motherly instincts kicked in and I felt the urge to go to him and hug him.

I heard a loud sigh, "Don't worry, we won't let him hurt her." I recognized Ludwig's voice and I called out to them.

"Feliciano?" I heard a startled gasp. "We're up here."

Footsteps, and Feliciano entered my vision as he rounded the curve of the staircase. While Feli raced up the remaining steps to no doubt grip me in a hug, I saw his friends step into the place he was in just moments ago.

I patted my cousins back as he cried on my shoulder, "There, there, it was just a misunderstanding."

He perked up almost immediately, "Oh, that's good!" He still moved us a few steps away from Ivan though.

Ivan excused himself by saying he had to go find his Yao, and then it was just me Feli and his friends in the hallway.

The Brit was the first to speak after Ivan left, "Feli, you never introduced us."

Feliciano face palmed. "Sí, Sí, of course. Everyone, this is my cousin Desideria. Desi, these are my _amici_." Feli motioned to his group of friends.

"Hello Desideria. My name is Arthur and I represent the United Kingdom." The Brit shook my hand lightly and motioned for the American to go next.

"I'm Alfred, and I rep the totally awesome country of America!" Alfred's blue eyes shone with pride behind his glasses. "This is my brother Canada / Matthew. You may not see him, which is normal and you shouldn't worry about it." The American smacked his look-a-like's back and Matthew let out a slight squeak.

The small Japanese person spoke up next, as we were obviously going around the line. "Hello. I am Kiku. I'm very pleased to meet you." He bowed and I smiled.

Ludwig came last. "My name is Ludwig. It's nice to finally meet the cousin Feli wouldn't shut up about." He patted Feliciano' shoulder, and he smiled up at him.

"Ciao! I am Desideria Vargas, but you can call me Desi. I was born in Italy, but moved to Californa shortly after I turned one. Feliciano's papa and mine are brothers which is how we are related." I paused and put my finger to my chin thinking of what to say next. "During the summer I live with Feli at his house in Italy. I've done this every summer I can remember."

Feliciano jumped a bit after I finished speaking. "Desi, Desi! Do you want to go see _fratello_?"

"Si, Si! Where is he?" I asked, looking around as if he might pop out of thin air if I looked hard enough. Feli motioned to down the hall, and I set off at a brisk pace with Feli and his friends speed walking after me.

I was nearing the end of the hall when Feli sqeaked, "Right!" and I turned in that direction and found myself face to face with a door that was covered in graffiti. I studied it closely.

"What's the Bad Touch Trio?" I turned my head and asked Feli.

Arthur answered me instead, "A group of troublemakers."

Well that just couldn't be right! There's no way my other cute cousin would be a troublemaker! He was just so sweet, I could never imagine him troubling others.

"_Fratello _is not a part of the Bad Touch Trio, he's just friends with one of it's members." Feli spoke like he could read my mind.

I heard laughter from behind the closed door. "That's good." I said, while I carefully opened the door and stepped inside, with everyone coming in behind me.

The room probably used to be a classroom, I got this from the whiteboard and all the desks, but now it wasn't in use, I got this from all off the desks being pushed up and stacked agansit the wall. I glanced to the corner of the room and saw four people sitting on the floor in a circle. Two people had their backs to me, but I could clearly see into the scarlett eyes of the albino, and the blue eyes of the blonde.

They both shot smiles in my direction over the shoulders of the other two people. Confused, they turned around to see what their friends were smiling at. I smiled at the person with the familar curl as he jumped up from his cross-legged sitting style.

I ran up to him and jumped into his outstreched arms, wrapping mine around his neck. "Lovino! It is so great to see you!"

Lovi held me in a tight hug for a few moments before letting me down gentely to the floor, as I was hovering a couple inchs because I wasn't tall enough to reach his neck on my own feet. He looked me in the eye, "Desi, why are you here?"

"Feli begged me to enroll, and I was glad to get out of California to spend time with my _cugini_."

Lovi glanced over to his brother for a second or two, then faced me again. "I'm glad you're here, _tesoro_. I haven't seen you since this summer, have you gotten taller?" He ruffled my hair, and I quickly rearranged my long hair so my curls were still in perfect place. "You look so much like Feliciano, it amazes me!"

"You are wrong _amigo_.She is much cuter than your brother." The brunette person who was sitting next to Lovi was now behind him, patting him on the shoulder.

The blonde sitting on the floor put in his two-cents, "She's also a C cup, her brother can't compete."

Even thought I should have been embarressed and grossed out, I was mildly impressed. I asked "You can tell from all the way over there?" and he nodded.

Lovi's anger made up for the lack of mine. "Don't you dare speak to my cute Desi like that you bastard!" He immeditely punched the blonde in the stomach and would have hit him again if his brunette friend hadn't stopped him. The blonde was holding his stomach, muttering in French.

"Lovi!" I called his name sternly and he stopped struggling to get out of his friend's grasp. "You mustn't hit people. _Scusarsi_."

Lovi looked at me with sad eyes, then turned back to the French man and said "I'm sorry." Lovi was set back on the ground and he looked at me.

"Good boy Lovi." I said while attempting to pat him on the head. The closest I came was the side of his head, so I patted his shoulder instead.

The friend who had held Lovi back introducded himself. "Hola, _prima__de mi amigo_, I am Antonio. I'm sure we will become good friends."

The albino who had stayed quite this whole time picked himself off the floor and appeared next to me. "Kesesese~ I am Gilbert. At first, you may be intimidated by my awesomeness, but do not fret, you will get used to it." Gilbert pointed to the French man, "This person is Francis. Do not wear a skirt if you know you will be seeing him, you might never see it again."

I absorbed this useful bit of information. It was a good thing I'd picked my artfully torn jeans over the skirt I was going to wear.

"Thank you. I will remember that. I am Desideria, but just call me Desi, please."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello~ I had serious writers block while trying to write this chapter, because I don't really plan things out before I start writing them, I just wing it.**

**I probably shouldn't do that, right?**

* * *

><p>Everyone decided to just stay in the classroom rather than going back to the cafeteria seeing as there was only about 10 minutes of the lunch break left. We all pulled chairs to the middle of the room and sat down. I learned about them and they learned about me.<p>

Gilbert and Ludwig were brothers. You wouldn't think it because they look absolutely nothing alike, but Ludwig was Gilbert's adopted brother, which explained it. Gilbert played the guitar, and he demonstrated by playing a popular song. He owned an electric one, but it was at his house, and he only usually took his acoustic to school.

Lovi and Antonio turned out to be old friends, which I found strange because Lovi had never mentioned him to me in the past summers. Lovi has known Antonio since he was very small, Antonio had always recognized him as a friend, but Lovi hadn't which is probably why he never told me about him.

Francis, Arthur, Alfred, and Matthew all had a very complicated relationship. I couldn't tell if they hated each other, or were good friends. Francis and Arthur were always fighting, I thought this meant they didn't like each other, but there was no trace of hate in their eyes. Arthur fought with Alfred, too. Except it was mostly just a one sided fight because his insults just slid off the American like rain. Arthur would yell while Alfred would just laugh and every now and then slip in a comment.

People seemed to forget that Matthew was in the room. The only person who would talk to him was Francis, who Matthew told me had always been able to see him, even while no one else could. I informed Mattie he should try and take more part in a conversation so he would be noticed more, and other people wouldn't forget about him anymore. He smiled and told me that it wouldn't work, no matter what he did people still forgot.

I felt for Mattie. I couldn't imagine having a brother and friends forget about my existence occasionally. I made sure to try and include Mattie in every conversation, but he just couldn't stay in. I eventually gave up and let Mattie have his own little conversation with Francis.

Antonio asked me the most questions about myself, "Where will you be staying while in New York, _amiga_?"

"I will be staying with Feli and Lovi in their apartment." I answered. I glanced over at Feli and Lovi; I expected that Feli had been explaining my being here because he was talking to Lovi in a hushed tone, with Lovi nodding occasionally.

The Spaniard continued questioning me, until he asked one of my favorite questions, "What hobbies do you have?"

"I sing and play the guitar." I said with a smile on my face. After usually saying this, I would be asked to sing a song, which I always did without complaint.

Francis interrupted whatever Antonio was about to say, "_Mon cher_, will you sing for us?"

I nodded and turned to Gilbert, who was laughing with Alfred. "Gilbert? Can I use your guitar please?" Usually people aren't to keen to let strangers handle important objects, like guitars, babies etc., so I put on my best smile and mentally crossed my fingers.

He shrugged, "Sure, but why do you need it?" He handed me his guitar, I put my hands into position before I answered him.

"I'm going to sing for you." I replied. I started strumming on the guitar; my fingers automatically knew what notes to play from reading the sheet music to one of my favorite songs so many times. Feliciano and Lovi have heard me sing this particular song so many times, they didn't bother looking up from their conversation. I waited for the cue, and when it came I let the lyrics flow.

"_Happiness, hit her like a train on a track  
>Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back<br>She hid around corners and she hid under beds  
>She killed it with kisses and from it she fled<br>With every bubble she sank with a drink  
>and washed it away down the kitchen sink"<em>

I looked into the faces of my audience, while I took my next breath. I saw recognition of the song and surprise in my voice. These reactions weren't uncommon; I've been told before that my voice was great, that was before I started meeting with a vocal instructor, now my voice has gone from "great" to "stunning".

"_The dog days are over  
>The dog days are done<br>The horses are coming so you better run"_

Lovi had started swaying slightly and gave me an encouraging smile when I glanced in his direction.

"_Run fast for your mother run fast for your father  
>Run for your children and your sisters and brothers<br>Leave all your love and your loving behind you  
>Can't carry it with you if you want to survive"<em>

I smiled at the lyrics, which although they held no special meaning towards me, still sent shivers up my spine.

"_And I never wanted anything from you  
>Except everything you had<br>And what was left after that too."_

"Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back  
>Struck from a great height<br>By someone who should know better than that"

I sang without embarrassment or shame, traits I rarely had. Years ago, I had learned that I had been born to sing. The high I felt when I sang in front of an audience is what I live on. The feeling wasn't something that could be explained or understood by someone who hadn't felt it, the feeling that you could do anything and never fail. When I had told my parents that when I got out of school I wanted to live off my songs, they were openly disappointed in me. I hadn't understood why my mom had told me to get my head out of the cloud, as I was so young, just eight.

The only people who had supported my dream at the time were Feliciano and Lovino. Lovi, who was two years older than me, had taught me the basics of the guitar, and he and Feli saved up their allowances and bought me my own on my 9th birthday. With my guitar in hand, I worked so hard to get my parents to acknowledge my dream so I could take vocal lessons. After months of trying to convince them, they finally gave in.

My vocal instructor had high hopes for me, she believed that I would make it big, and in turn she would get more students and become rich. I promised her that I'd tell anyone who ever asked about her. I worked with her for four years, since she was a private instructor, she didn't work with you for just a couple months like someone the PTSO hired, but worked with me once a week year round.

Shortly, after my 14th birthday, she announced that she could not think of anything else to teach me, so my lessons stopped. She told me I had the ability to get scouted pretty much right away, but I had promised my family I would go to high school and finish college before I went pro, so I never auditioned at talent companies.

There was something, though. Something else. What was it? A familiar stabbing took residence in my brain, it hurt. I wanted to release the note I was holding, but my voice didn't waver, because that's how I was taught.

I strummed the last note on Gilbert's guitar and handed it back to him. After a few seconds, my new friends started applauding for me, and I bowed for them.

I could hear Lovi boasting to Antonio "Isn't my Desi amazing? I taught her how to play the guitar." Poor Feli tried to butt in by saying he bought me my first guitar, but Lovi quickly corrected him and said that THEY had bought me my first guitar.

"You're quite good, _kleines Mädchen_. But I, the awesome Gilbert, can do much, much better" Gilbert smirked at me.

I giggled a bit, "Is that a challenge?" I asked him.

He laughed,"Kesesesese~ Of course. But there is sadly not enough time for me to kick your ass, so we will do this tomorrow." He patted me on the shoulder, "Bring your guitar."

I nodded and walked over to Feli and slipped my hand into his and tugged him towards the door, "Feli show me where my next class is." I turned around to my new group of friends, "Bye guys!" I waved to them as I dragged Feli out the door. After shutting it I heard a muffled sound of someone talking, then laughter, and Lovi's enraged voice and the unmistakiable slap of skin aganist skin. I smiled to myself and pulled my schedual out of my bag to show Feli.

HWA had a very interesting Arts program, you had to attend normal classes, like math, history, etc. But I got to ignore useless classes like gym and computer apps and have art based classes. I had chosen my art classes to be based on music, so I was fairly happy with my schedule.

Feli looked at the paper in his hands in awe, "Ve~ I didn't know we even had a Chorus class." He squinted while reading the small print,"I know where this room is, it's downstairs!"

We looped arms as we walked down the staircase. The bell rang again and I jumped a bit, because sudden loud noises scared me. I relaxed my tense muscles, and listened to the sound of people leaving the Dining Hall and walking to their next class.

Feli suddenly stopped at the bottom of the steps,"What's up with this? You are fifteen right?" I nodded and he thought for a second "Well, you are a bit old to be a freshman, but you should be in 9th grade, why do you have sophomore classes?"

I shrugged, "I don't really know, but I started school late so I should be a freshman, but I'm smart so I got bumped up a grade." I tapped my chin.

Let's just get this out of the way. Lovi, Gilbert, Francis, Antonio, and Arthur are all juniors at the age of 17. Feli is 16, he will be turning 17 in about two months, Ludwig is 17, I don't understand why he isn't a junior, but I never got around to asking him, Alfred and Matthew are 16, and Kiku is 16 also, they are all in the 10th grade, leaving me the youngest out of all of them.

Feli sighed, "Ve~ You have it all Desi. The personality, the talent, the brains, and the looks. You're perfect!"

I laughed at him," I don't have it all." He began walking me to my classroom again.

"Name one thing you don't have."

"The money and the guy." I replied and frowned.

Now it was Feli's turn to laugh at me, "You could have any guy you wanted. I'm sure you've had plenty of boyfriends."

"Yeah they were all nice until after they got into my pants, then I'd catch them making out with one of my so-called friends." I sighed and than realized I had made an error in saying that not thinking about who I was talking, too. At the horrified look of Feli's face, I didn't know whether I should laugh at his expression or stay quite.

Feli's mouth turned into a frown and he cried out in the busy hallway, "NOOOOOO! How could my beloved Desi lose her virginity before me! And you're soooo younggggg. You traitor!"

He sat on the floor and pulled his knees to his chest and pouted. I squatted down next to him and rubbed his back.

"I'm sorry Feli, I shouldn't have brought it up. I've told you about my boyfriends, you should know that I fall fast, and hard." I picked him up by his arm, "Let's get to class."

After losing my virginity at 14, I had decided I would never bring sex up in front of Feli, because he'd be upset, and Lovi, because Lovi would kill anyone that touched me. After going out with someone for a couple weeks, I'd be convinced that they really liked me, and being so naive, I'd let them bring me home after a date.

Feli looked at me with watery eyes, "How many times?"

"I don't know." I answered him truthfully, sometimes I'd have sex with a guy a couple of times before I found him with a friend, and I really couldn't total up how many times I've done it all together. "Don't tell Lovino, okay?"

He paused for a second, and nodded. He pulled me in front of a classroom door."After class see if you can find someone else to walk you to your next one, cause I'll be on the other side of the school." He hugged me briefly, "No matter what my Desi did, shes still my little Desi."

I smiled, thanked him, and walked into my classroom.

My classes flew by quickly. I had met a girl named Lili in my first class, we instantly clicked. Her schedule was like, an exact match to mine. We decided it was fate bringing us together, destining us to be friends. Lili didn't have many friends, so she was quite happy when I said I'd be one.

The connection I felt with Lili was strong, and it kept us joined at the hip throughout the rest of the day. I learned I had some classes with some of my new friends, Gilbert being in most of them, followed by Alfred and Matthew as a close second.

We had all exchanged cell numbers, but Lili was too scared to give her's to the guys because her brother was always warning her about them.

When school was over, Lili and I waited in the same spot in the lobby. She was waiting for her brother and I was waiting for my cousins. Lili's brother, a rather angry blonde, Vash, arrived first and whisked Lili away. I was only by myself for a few moments when Feli and Lovi appeared by my side and we walked out of the building .

I felt sorry for the poor people standing outside the school freezing their butts off while just standing there. Feli and Lovi's apartment was only two blocks away so we walked down the busy sidewalk while huddled together for warmth.

It was a quite journey, and I wondered if anything was wrong. Then I had remembered my cousins were usually very quite when they were cold. I wrapped my arms around their waists and they wrapped theirs around my shoulders. We walked like this until we reached the apartments then we all decided it'd be fun to see who got to the room on the top floor first.

We stood in the lobby in our running positions, because whoever got there last didn't have to do the dishes, and the loser would make dinner. I counted down from five, and when I yelled "Go!" Feli and I ran right towards the stairs, and Lovi ran straight for the elevator. Feli might have longer legs, but I have more stamina so I reached the stairs first and glanced behind me.

Lovi was angrily slamming his hand onto the up button and Feli was right behind me, so I high-tailed it up the stairs. Feli and I were pretty even the whole time we were running, so when we finally reached the 10th floor we were both totally wiped out, but I still managed to touch the door before Feli.

Lovi came in last, because the elevator had to keep stopping for people on other floors. He cursed when he saw we were already outside the door and announced we were eating pasta tonight.

Feli unlocked the door to room 209 and ushered me inside. It was a rather big apartment, and the furniture all matched. I guessed someone else had picked out everything, because Feli and Lovi couldn't match colors to save their lives.

They showed me where my room was. We stopped outside my door and read the words painted in pink over the white wood, "Our Cute Desi's Room" in smaller letters, written under it was "Stay out or I'll kill you."

I hugged them as thanks and they motioned for me to open the door. Boxes littered the floor to my new bedroom, my papa had flown them in yesterday. It was fairly big, Feli and Lovi have kindly provided me with a queen sized bed, and someone, probably Lovi, put a princess canopy over it.

I glanced over to the corner of the room where something caught my eye. I was a small house on a stand, standing about six feet in the air. I was about to question what it was when I felt a small tugging on my pants leg. I glanced down and saw a small brownish-greenish animal looking up at me with its arms wrapped around my ankle.

"I'm sorry, this can't be real, right?" I asked Feli and Lovi, in a state of complete shock.

They laughed and Feli answered me, "It's real alright, Happy Birthday / Merry Christmas!"

They explained to me how they remembered from when I was little and I had wanted a Squirrel Monkey almost as much as I had wanted to sing, and after years of trying, they had finally landed me one.

I looked down to my new monkey. Squirrel Monkeys were so small by nature, and this one just had to be a baby. I scooped it up in my hands and let it climb onto my shoulder, where it played with my hair.

Then I started crying. I was just _so happy_.Feli had started freaking out but Lovi got it and calmed him down.

"What will you name him, _bella_? Lovi asked me. _So it was a him._

"Carmine." I answered, using the Italian word for song. I vaguely remembered something I read on the internet once, "Is this legal?"

Lovi answered my question with ease, "In the state of New York? No."

I laughed a bit,"Breakin' the law, huh... Feli, you love cats right?" He nodded.

"Do you own one?"

"Ah, _Si_! Delanna!" He called out, and shortly after a large cat pranced into the room, and was immediately scooped up his cat.

"She's a Maine Coon, isn't she beautiful?" Feli smiled when I nodded.

"I was a bit worried for a second, monkeys get lonely and I feared I might have to get another one to keep Carmine company. But since Delanna's here, they can play together!" I smiled and reached over to pat the cat in Feliciano's arms.

"Like we'd ever get another one, that damn thing cost us seven grand." Lovi muttered. I smiled at him and kissed both his cheeks.

"_Grazie_!"

"Yeah well, don't expect anything for Christmas." Lovi blushed.

My birthday was on Christmas Eve, so people usually just mashed my Christmas presents and birthday presents together, which never bothered me. Carmine is definitely the best gift I've ever gotten, even if it's a little early. Well, my guitar was a close second.

My guitars. After I had gotten my acoustic from my favorite Italians, my family had gotten me my electric my next birthday. I loved my hot-pink electric, but I still favored my acoustic, because it just sounded so amazing.

I walked around my new room for a moment, checking behind that stacked boxes. I saw my two cases leaning up on the wall next to my closet. I smiled and picked up the black leather case with the pink stitching. I clicked it open, causing Carmine to jump a slight bit, and pulled out my guitar.

I played it softly, well I attempted to play it but Carmine was trying to make that as hard as possible because he wouldn't stop putting his hands on my neck, and I was extremely ticklish so this affected me a ton.

I glanced at my cousins who were watching me.

"I love you guys." I said matter-of-factually.

"_Amiamo il nostro__ Desi__ troppo_."

_We love our Desi, too._

* * *

><p><strong>Lovi might or might not be OOC. I wouldn't know because he has no cousin he dotes on, therefore I don't know how he would treat them.<br>**


	3. Chapter 3

I finished unpacking all of my things around 11:30 that night. I'd have finished much earlier if I hadn't stopped to take breaks whenever I broke a nail or got a bit of a headache. Gilbert and Carmine weren't helping either.

Carmine decided that he was bored of playing with Delanna and thought it'd be interesting to take the things I'd unpacked and hide them in the corner of my closet. After about an hour of this, I called Feli into my room so he could entertain Carmine. He taught him an interestingly helpful trick. Feli had been looking around on monkey forums and saw that I was supposed to keep Carmine with me pretty much at all times for like, a year. So he pulled out an apple and taught Carmine how to get by the cops without being noticed.

The keyword to the trick was "Freeze!", and as soon as it was said Carmine would stop moving, looking almost like he wasn't even real. Which was the point. If I was asked by a cop while outside the apartment, I'd just say that Carmine was a stuffed animal given to me by a dead relative, which is why I had it with me. I had argued that I liked the keyword "It's the Fuzz!" better, but Feli wouldn't budge.

Gilbert had started distracting me after about ten minutes of peaceful working. He had texted me wondering about what song we should sing together. Apparently we were going to do a duet and have everyone vote on who was better. We argued back and forth for a while, until finally deciding on a song that we both knew all the lyrics to, and that I knew how to play on my guitar, and that Gil said he'd be able to learn by tomorrow.

After I finally unpacked everything, I sat on the floor and leaned on my bed to support me. Carmine climbed onto my shoulder and took my hair in his hands, and it appeared that he was braiding it, when he was really just making it tangle together which would prove to be difficult to brush out later. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and replied to the text I got from Gil almost five minutes ago.

**You: So what happens if everyone votes for me?**

**Gil: That's not going to happen. If it does though, I'll take you somewhere fun. What will you do if everyone votes for me?**

**You: I'll let you take me somewhere fun.**

**Gil: Kesesese. **I had laughed aloud when I read Gilbert type his laugh. **I heard from Feli that he and Lovino got you a monkey, are you happy?**

**You: Of course! Carmine is the sweetest thing ever; he is braiding my hair as we speak, sort of. I get to bring him to school, too. **

**Gil: Is that allowed?**

**You: Lovi spoke with the headmaster.**

**Gil: He probably threatened to sic the mafia on him if he didn't let you.**

**You: Lovi would never do that! He may joke around sometimes, but he wouldn't bring the mafia into this.**

**Gil: Yes he would.**

**You: No he wouldn't!**

**Gil: He so would.**

This continued for a while, until I finally decided it was time for bed. I texted Gil goodnight and changed Carmine's diaper (Yes, monkeys wear diapers, you can't really ever fully potty train them!).

It took about five minutes to get out all the tangles in my hair from where Carmine was "braiding" and I also succeeded in ripping out a hunk of my hair. Naturally, I was very upset, so I pouted a bit before climbing in my bed and pulling my new comforter over me. Carmine decided he trusts me enough to not try and eat him while he's sleeping, and slept on my other pillow. I watched the steady rise and fall of his chest as I fell asleep.

Mornings are always brutal for me. Back in California, I usually would attempt to stay in bed by pretending to be sick, but my papa would never believe me and always end up having to semi drag me from my bed. I blame it on my lack of sleep every night. Actually, I don't think it's the lack of sleep that does it; it's just waking up early.

Feli and Lovi knew how grouchy I get in the mornings, so after a muttered "Buongiorno" they make sure to not provoke me until I've gotten my coffee.

And after I do, I'm in a noticably better mood. Carmine was sitting on the table (This upset Lovi, because he didn't want a monkey where he ate.) trying to stick his head in my coffee, I thought it was cute that he wanted some, but I wasn't sure if he could or not.

I prepared his baby formula that Feli had so kindly gotten for me and informed me that since he was around five months old I should start weaning him. After I fed Carmine his bottle, I gave him a bit of a monkey biscut and let him eat that on my shoulder while I moved him to my room so I could get ready without worrying about him.

After getting dressed ("I heart hugs" shirt, boot cut jeans, and ballet flats), I find Carmine hanging from my princess canopy, I grabbed him and set him on my bed quickly as he was starting to click his tongue at me, showing his displeasure.

I headed into my bathroom and bushed my hair, then tied it back in a ponytail. I brushed my teeth and washed my face before I carefully put on my makeup. After spending a couple minutes in front of my jewelry box, I finally pick out a few pieces to put on while I let Carmine climb onto my shoulder from his perch on the bathroom counter. I bend down, frightening him, and reach under the bathroom counter for his diaper cover. He didn't have much patience with it, much like the other clothes I tried to make him wear last night.

Feli and Lovi had already finished getting ready and were waiting for me in the living room. I put the guitar case I was holding over my shoulder, the one not occupied by Carmine, who was inspecting my ponytail holder, I hoped he didn't try to pull it out.

We all smiled at each other, Lovi held the door open for me and Feli and locked it behind him. Instead of racing downstairs, we all waited for the elevator like sane people.

The elevator had shiny walls and a potted plant in the corner. Lovino felt compelled to kick to over, so he did. Lovi wasn't much of a morning person like me, but his mood doesn't really get better after coffee.

We waved to the other occupants of the building on our way out; they all seemed friendly and smiled back at us, some giving Carmine on my shoulder a strange look.

The air outside was cold, not as cold as yesterday, but cold enough for me to shiver into the jacket I slipped on while walking out the door. Carmine looked cold to, so I held him in my arms and tried to keep him warm, he clicked his tongue at me but stopped after he felt my warmth.

Feli and Lovi stuck to my sides, they were almost sure I was going to get lost / kidnapped on my way to or from school. I let them act as my bodyguards until we were in front of the school when I saw Lili hovering in the gateway, contemplating whether she should enter or not.

I walked towards her, "_Ciao_ Lili, why are you just standing there?"

She glanced at me then faced her front again, "Well, they are fighting again and I don't want to get in the way."

I glanced past the stone wall that was blocking my view of the school and saw what she was talking about. Vash seemed to be in a very heated argument with a boy with messy brown hair and glasses, and an angry girl that was waving a frying pan around to express her anger.

"_Vedo_, well, lets get to class." I grabbed her hand and dragged her past her brother, who was probably going to be late. She called out a goodbye to her brother as we passed him, and he gave a nod of acknowadgment before returning to his fight.

Feli caught my arm before we entered the crowded building, "We are going to be in the auditorium during the lunch break, Lili will show you right?" He glanced at her, and she nodded, "Ve~ See you then Desi!" He kissed my cheek once and then vanished into the crowd to get to his class.

Lovi had already gone off to look for Antonio, when I asked him last night about their relationship, He had freaked out and called him a tomato-bastard and denied having any feelings for him at all.

My homeroom class had Matthew in it. This was apparently the only class where he could get away from his brother. Alfred had tried his hardest to manipiulate both their scheduals to be twins like them, but Matthew had been able to transfer into another homeroom, despite Alfred protests.

I think Alfred care for Matthew a lot. He's very protective of his brother, just like Lovi is of Feli and me, not that he'd ever admit to it.

I also have a brother, but Ezio wasn't the least bit protective of me or our little sister, Gabriella. I could count the number of times he has seen me without me feeling terrible at the end. I never really saw him, but my mama and papa always talked about him.

Ezio had left home when I was still just small, he had moved across the country from California to Flordia when I was five, during my vist to Italy with our parents. I never understood why he didn't vist Italy, he grew up there, shouldn't he be visting every chance he got?

Lovi and Feli were more like my brothers now. I hadn't seen nor heard from Ezio in a year, and I really couldn't care less, I had grown out of wanting my brother to act like a brother instead of a stranger. Feli had scolded me when I told him this, saying that siblings should always love each other no matter what.

My brother didn't even look like me. While Feli and Lovi looked much like each other, Ezio and I had no similar characteristics. He was a blonde, I was a brunette. He had straight hair, I had curls I couldn't control. He had brown eyes, I had amber. The differences only go on from there, different face shapes, lips, noses, ears, cheekbones, I can't even tell if we are related.

I sat between Matthew and Lili in homeroom. Lili and Mattie surprisingly were somewhat friends, even though Vash hated it because Mattie's related to Alfred.

We were talking quitely when the bell rang and we left the classroom, Lili and I going right, Matthew going left. Next class was one of the ones I had with Gilbert.

"You scared, _kleines Mädchen_?" He asked me, bringing up the topic of the contest, "You shouldn't be, whether you win or lose, you still get to be in the presence of awesome me!" He patted me on the back, declaring how lucky I was.

I couldn't help but laugh at him, I called him self-centered and elbowed his arm before conversing with Lili about Carmine, who this whole time had been on my shoulder, trying to pull Lili's ribbon out of her hair.

After Carmine had finally given up, he climbed off my shoulder and onto Gil's, who was now estatic that a monkey could tell how amazing someone was and be drawn to them without having prior training to tell someone whose awesome from someone whose not awesome.

I decided not to burst Gil's bubble by telling him Carmine was just interested in his canary that was trying to nest in his hair. I don't know why, but I've never noticed Gilbird until now. Gil eventually got upset with Carmine because he kept trying to pluck Gilbird's feathers, making him dig his talon's into Gil's head.

Lili lead me to the auditorium, I followed closely behind he and Vash followed me, scowling because he wanted to be with Lili, but not with all of my friends.

We followed the flow of people heading into the lunchroom until we met the first intersection, where we took a left while everyone else was going right. After we walked a bit, we came to two double doors with a paper sign taped onto them saying, "Reserved for the Bad Touch Trio and Friends. Better have premission or stay the hell away."

This is where Lili didn't really want to continue, as she didn't enjoy the company of "The Bad Touch Trio and Friends". It took me a minute to convince her they were all really nice, and another to coax her into entering the room.

The auditorium was a rather large room, used for assembelys, plays, you get the picture. Chairs were stacked up on the far wall, waiting to be taken down for a meeting, a single row of them sat in front of the raised stage, where Gil was standing playing with his guitar.

The chairs in the front rom were all occupied, so Lili and Vash had to pull some down from the wall to sit.

I didn't greet my new friends, just went up to the stage and pulled my guitar out of it's case.

"_Ciao_!" I said happily, "Gil and I are going to sing, so please vote on who you think is better~ Feli can you take Carmine_ per favore_?" Feli got up from his seat in front of me and hauled himself onto the stage instead of just going up the stairs like a normal person. He grabbed Carmine, who clicked at him and set him on his shoulder. He took the stairs off the stage because jumping off would freak Carmine out.

Feli returned to his seat next to Ludwig, he then put Carmine on Ludwig's lap and laughed the the tall German tensed up.

Gil stood next to me with his guitar at the ready, "So you managded to learn it in a night?"

He smiled at me, "Of course! There is absolutely nothing the amazing Gilbert can't handle!"

I smiled and told him to start when he was ready. After a few moments, I heard the softly played notes drift from Gil's guitar to my ears, I waited for my cue to start playing. My guitar's music melded with Gil's , and anyone familiar with Secondhand Serenade should have been able to recongize it.

I waited, it had been decided that I'd sing first and then Gil would join me in the chorus, and we'd alternate from there. I heard the cue for vocal, and sang controlling my voice like I was taught to do during songs like this one.

" _Speak with your tongue tied,  
>I know that you're tired<br>But I just want to know,  
>Where you want to go,<br>I may be sad, But I'm not weak,  
>This situation is bleak<br>And your puffy eyes never lie,  
>Your tears come from inside.<em>"

Gil started singing with me, I tried to focus on his voice, but found that I couldn't while I was otherwise occupied.

"_Until Sunday I'll be waiting for an answer  
>I guess that yesterday's not good enough for you,<br>You know that I hate this song,  
>You know that I hate this song<br>Because it was written for you._"

I let Gil have this verse, because of the whole alternating thing. I could focus on his voice now that all I was thinking about was keeping my guitar in check, and I was a great multi-tasker. Gil's accent disappeared when he sang, much like mine did. It took me forever to control my accent when I sang, it had caused much frustration. I couldn't begin to describe Gil's voice, he actually sounded like the lead singer in Secondhand Serenade! I then remembered something Gil had told me last night over a text, about how he could imitate people's voices. It hadn't occurred to me then that he could still imitate with singing.

"_Drown your fears with me  
>I'm feeling real sorry<br>Your glossy eyes don't need  
>The sadness they have seen<br>But you're way too deep to swim  
>Back up again<br>But somehow I can't find  
>The moment you said goodbye.<em>"

I joined him again for the chorus, and then I sang the lead for the last verse, with Gil joining me every few lines as the backup.

"_This is becoming a problem I'm hurting it's unfair  
>But somehow your words,<br>The way that I heard are haunting me,  
>You're under my skin<br>You're breaking in,  
>And the tasteless fights that filled our nights<br>Are starting to cave in,  
>You're under my skin<br>You're breaking in  
>And if Sundays what it takes to prove<br>I have nothing else to lose._"

We sang the chorus again, I glanced over at Gil, he was smiling as much as he could while singing and his scarlet eyes shone, I felt drawn to them, I had a hard time removing my gaze from his face to face my audience again.

We both held the last note a bit before dropping it. I looked back at Gil, he beamed at me as our little audiance clapped, he put an arm around my shoulder and forced me to bow, then pulled me up in a one-armed hug.

I knew that Gil and I had become closer from just doing a duet, many people did feel closer with a duet partner after preforming really well.

I watched as our friends held up index cards with our first inital on them, Feli had made them last night for the judging.

"Look's like we are about evenly matched, Gil. What happens if we tie?" I smiled, not thrilled about not winning outright, but happy because I wouldn't have to deal with Gil's brusied ego at losing, if his ego could bruise.

He shrugged, "I take you somewhere fun still."

I heard Lovi shout from his seat in front of us, "OKAY POTATO-BASTARD, You can let her go now."

Gil released me, and jumped off the stage to talk to his brother, who had warmed up to Carmine and was lightly scraching him on his head. When I eased myself off the stage- not wanting to jump like Gil, for fear that I might hurt my ankle or something- Carmine ditched Ludwig's shoulder and climbed my pants leg, scaled my shirt and rested on my shoulder, pulling my hair.

Alfred had delt with not being the center of attention for too long, so he naturally had to speak up.

"Hey guys! Wanna hear my awesome singing?" Alfred jumped up on the vacant stage and pulled a mic out of nowhere, and struck a pose.

"Oh woahhhh-"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Francis lept onto the stage and tackled Alfred, shortly followed by Gil who landed on top of Francis.

Antonio shouted, "Dog pile on Alfred!" and added himself to the mix. Alfred called for Arthur to save him, only to be ignored.

"What a git, he should have prepared for this if he wanted to sing Justin Bieber." The Brit huffed and sipped his team ignoring the American's crys for backup.


	4. Chapter 4

I have to say, I was a bit surprised when I figured out the "Fun place" Gil was taking me to was a shooting range.

"Why a shooting range?" I asked Gil, who had removed the blindfold he forced me to wear once we were inside. I wasn't happy about Gil telling me on Tuesday that I had to wake up early on Saturday for our "Date" as he called it, causing Lovi to have a mini-meltdown. I had figured if he wanted me to wake up early, we were going somewhere a distance away, but no, we were just going down the street to the shooting range that Gil liked so much.

Gil tossed me some earmuffs and goggles, "Well I felt like I needed to practice, and like you needed to learn." He smiled at me, "Us guys can't always protect you."

I felt a small spark in my chest, "Why don't we make this a competition, too?" I nudged Gil in the side, "If you are a better shot than me, I'll pay for lunch, and vice-versa."

"You're on, _kleine_." Gil said confidently while he put on his goggles, than his earmuffs. I followed his example and went to the station next to his.

I recognized his German, as it had been what he's been calling me all week and it finally made me curious enough to ask Ludwig what it meant.

"I'm not little." I called to Gil who was loading his gun. I picked up the handgun in front of me and examined it while waiting for Gil to get ready, cause I was going to let him go first.

I heard a click and set my gaze on Gilbert as he aimed the gun at the target and fired, the first bang making me jump a bit, but regained control of myself before he could fire his second round.

_BANG_

_BANG_

_BANG_

_BANG_

Gil set down the gun and pressed the button that would bring his target to him.

"Shoulder, stomach, and both legs, I missed once." Gil sounded slightly dejected. I patted his shoulder.

"My turn!" I said brightly, looking up at Gil, (I hated having to look up to see the guy's face, why am I so short!) "Mind showing me how to work this thing?" I asked him playfully.

I waved the gun around for effect; Gil laughed at me and walked me through the process.

"Don't feel bad if you miss, like you just saw, even the awesome me misses every now and then!" Gilbert patted my back and stepped back giving me some room.

I smiled and aimed.

_BANG_

_BANG_

_BANG_

_BANG_

_BANG_

I reached up to pressed the button, making Gil laugh again because I had to stretch my arm out all the way.

"How tall are you?" He asked me, ruffling my hair, which he should know by now I hate, as he's seen how much it bothered me to have Carmine do it. Feli and Lovi thankfully offered to babysit Carmine while I was with Gil, Feli said he'd invite Ludwig over to play with him, which is when Lovi ditched the job and went to Antonio's house outside the city.

"Erm, about four-eight?" I said, eagerly awaiting my target, Gil laughed at me for the third time. When I was able to see it, I sighed with relief.

"Forehead, heart, lung, stomach, and penis, assuming this target is male." I said, and giggled at Gil's expression.

"How are you such a good shot?"

"Hey now, you were the one who assumed I didn't know how to shoot a gun, I've got mafia blood, remember? Of course Lovi would teach me how to shoot, _sciocco_!"

Gil nodded, "Of course. _Harte Mädchen_, a tough little girl you are."

"Lunch is on you Gil, you can pick where."

"Italian sound awesome?"

"It always does."

After we finished eating at a nerby restraunt (Actually, we got kicked out. Gil thought it'd be funny to construct a slingshot out of a rubber band and some chopsticks-which were convently located on the floor, of the ITALAIAN restraunt- and shot a meatball into this waiter's face. It actually _was _pretty funny, it made getting kicked out worth it.), Gil said our next stop was another fun place, but we were gonna have to walk a bit to get to it.

I didn't really enjoy walking on the streets of New York, too many people. Whenever I was in a crowd, I couldn't help but feel like something bad was about to happen. When I voiced my fears to Gil, he laughed and tried to take the crowd out of my mind.

Gil turned to me, his face flushed because of the cold air, making it look like he was blushing, "Why don't you sing?"

"I don't really sing in many big places."

"But you want to go pro right?"

I stopped and contemplated this for a second. When I started walking again, I replied, "Yeah, I should probably start practicing singing in front of the general public."

"Why don't you sing a song, and if I know it i'll jump in?" Gil offered, thinking I'd feel better If it wasn't just me randomly singing in the streets.

"Alright then." I thought about what to sing, then tought of a good song. "Gil, I think you know this one, sing with your real voice, no imitations, okay?"

When he nodded, I started singing, not loud like usual, but more on the quite side, more hesitant.

_"My heart's a stereo_

_It beats for you, so listen close_

_Hear my thoughts in every note."_

_"Make me your radio_

_And turn me up when you feel low_

_This melody was meant for you_

_To sing along to my stereo"_

Gil obviously knew the song, as he jumped right in.

_"If I was just another dusty record on the shelf_

_Would you blow me off and play me like everybody else_

_If I asked you to scratch my back, could you manage that_

_Yeah, Travie, I can handle that_

_Furthermore, I apologize for any skipping tracks_

_It's just the last girl that played me left a couple cracks_

_I used to used to used to used to, now I'm over that_

_Cause holding grudges over love is ancient artifacts"_

Gil sang without shame, not caring whether he was on a street full of people, or alone in his room. Describing Gil's voice is hard, I think it'd be soft if he wasn't rapping. Because I don't rap, I decided to only sing the chorus.

_"If I could only find a note to make you understand_

_I'd sing it softly in your ear and grab you by the hands_

_To keep me stuck inside your head, like your favorite tune_

_And know my heart's a stereo that only plays for you"_

My voice joined Gil's as we walked down the street, causing people to stop and stare at us.

_"My heart's a stereo_

_It beats for you, so listen close_

_Hear my thoughts in every note_

_Make me your radio_

_And turn me up when you feel low_

_This melody was meant for you_

_To sing along to my stereo_

_Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, _

_Oh oh oh, to sing along to my stereo"_

Gil and I linked arm's as we sung, which was more difficult than it sounds because of the big height difference. We sang all the way down to 5th Avanue, when Gil annonced we had reached our destination.

I looked up and saw we were in front of F.A.O Schwarz, and had a immature fit of giggles.

"We get to go in there and act like a bunch of eight year olds?" i asked, tugging on Gil's arm.

He smiled, "Hell yeah! This is my favorite past time!"

We looked at each other, than the building, than back at each other. Mutally understanding what the other was about to do, we both took off, racing for the doors. I, being faster got there first, with Gil arriving shortly after me.

For those of you who don't know, F.A.O Schwarz is like, a giant toy store with different floors. it's amazing. You should go. Seriously. You know, "_Where a kid can be a kid"_ except that Toys R Us, but you get the concept.

Gil and I ran around the store, playing with the dolls, trying on the princess dresses (Which i could still fit in and look fabuolas in by the way, while Gil looked like a rapist on halloween.), and spent a good thirty minutes in the LEGOs section, looking at all the cool statues.

We got to play on that mega floor piano, too. Gil and I ran across it while singing "Time of my Life", the song didn't really go with the piano or anything, but we just felt like singing it. The people let us stay on until we finished the song, then these two workers were going to take requests for a song to play on the piano, when I said Circus Gallop, they looked like they were about to cry, so they picked a little kid who asked them to play Colors of the Wind, which they thankfully knew how to play.

When the workers asked me and Gil to come up and sing while they played, we were both a little touched, and sang the Disney song, reciving a loud applause from our audience, it was for us, and the amazing playing to two guys on the floor piano did.

After the whole floor piano thing, we walked through the store, admiring pretty much everything. I saw a giant panda stuffed animal, it was about a half as tall as me and much wider. I fell in love with it, and when i told Gil how adorable I thought it was, he swept it up and paid for it before I could do anything to stop him.

"Happy birthday, Desi!" he said to me, and handed me the 80 dollar panda, which i was surprised by how heavy it was.

"It's not my brithday yet!" I said to him, and he just waved it off, "You shouldn't have spent so much."

"80 dollars is pocket money, Ludwig and I are freaking rich! If you want to hang around us, you better get used to all the awesome presents!" Gil laughed and started dragging me towards the candy place, F.A.O Schweetz.

Totally on impulse, I reached up and grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him down to my level. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and whispered, "Grazie." I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and released his shirt.

He pulled himself back up and blushed a bit, then laughed it off, continuing to the candy place.

Gil and I were sitting in one of the quiter places of the toy store in a corner, where nothing was really by us except for some stuffed animals. We were both leaning back onto a ginormous bear-that was really, really soft- and eating a giant bag of candy.

A question popped into my mind. I noticed that it was really going to bother me if I didn't get an answer.

"Gil, what is this?"

He looked at me funny, "F.A.O Schwarz?" he said, not sure of what I was getting at.

I shook my head, "No, what are we doing? What is _this_." I waved my hand over us, to emphazise my point.

Gil thought for a second, "This, Fräulein, is a date. It started out as a meeting between friends, but now the awesome me has declared it a date."

A date with Gil huh? I don't hate the idea of this being a date, maybe I have a small crush on Gil? Knowing myself, probably. Gil wouldn't be a bad boyfriend either, sure he may be a bit arrogant and self-centered, but _I _think he'd be fun to have as a boyfriend.

I don't think Gilbert would ever cheat on me, cheating isn't awesome, right? Unless Gil thinks cheating _is _awesome. Oh my god, if I get involved with Gil and he cheats on me, what do I do? What if he cheats on me with Lili? I'll tell Vash. Vash will kill him. NO, I don't want Gil to DIE, even if he cheats on me! Maybe? NO.

I mentally smacked myself. If Gil cheated on me with Lili, i'd have to stop being friends with Lili, than move on. Simple as that right? But what if I fall in love? Thats going to _really suck_. How can I move on if I love Gil? STOP. I'm thinking to far ahead.

I snap out of my internal conflict to find that Gil was waiting patiently for a reply.

After some more thinking, I decide that it's fine if this is a date, one date isn't going to kill someone. "I'm glad." After some consideration, those were the only words I could think of.

Gil smiled and offered me a gummy worm, which I happily accepted. We sat in silence for awhile, it only being broken when I started humming.

"What are you humming now, _singvogel_?" Gil asked me with interest.

"Blackbird." I answered, his face was blank, showing no recognition whatsoever.

"How does it go?" Gil looked confused at the thought of a song he didn't recognize.

I sang quietly, not feeling like drawing attention to myself at this moment.

"_Blackbird singing in the dead of night  
>Take these broken wings and learn to fly<br>All your life  
>You were only waiting for this moment to arise<em>

_Black bird singing in the dead of night  
>Take these sunken eyes and learn to see<br>all your life  
>you were only waiting for this moment to be free<em>

_Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly  
>Into the light of the dark black night.<em>

_Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly  
>Into the light of the dark black night.<em>

_Blackbird singing in the dead of night  
>Take these broken wings and learn to fly<br>All your life  
>You were only waiting for this moment to arise,<br>You were only waiting for this moment to arise,  
>You were only waiting for this moment to arise."<em>

I finished and sighed, my throat was starting to hurt a bit; I'm guessing it's from all the singing and laughing going on today.

"Kinda short isn't it?" Gil said smiling, handing me his water bottle that appeared out of nowhere.

I nodded and took the water bottle out of his hands with a smile; he could tell my throat was hurting. I took a sip and handed it back to him, "Grazie."

He ruffled my hair, "_Es ist nix_." I finger-combed my hair out of habit, making sure none of my curls got tangled.

I answered his earlier question, "Blackbird was sung by the Beatles, most of their songs are pretty short."

He nodded, "I see."

A voice came over the intercom, "F.A.O Schwarz will be closing in ten minutes." The voice repeated this, and all was silent.

I leaned over Gil and grabbed his right hand and pulled it towards me. He looked surprised for a second until I pulled up the sleeve of his jacket to look at his watch.

"No way! It's like, 7:50!" I exclaimed, Gil laughed at me.

"Time flies when you are with the awesome Gilbert." Gil helped me off the ground, and I felt kind of sore for sitting on such a hard surface for so long. I picked up my panda that was on the ground next to me and dusted it off.

"How incredible, I spent the whole day with you, and it hasn't felt like that long. _C__he strano_." I was face-palming when Gil tensed up a bit. "What?" I asked him curiously.

"Well, Lovino wanted you back home about five sharp, I wonder what he will do to me. Not that I'm scared or anything." He added, starting to lead me out of the toy store.

I felt a small wave of panic. Lovi could get very scary if he was mad. I let Gil steer me through the store until we finally reached the exit.

Gil pushed open the door, causing me to raise my voice, "_Merda__fa freddo_!" I automaticly got closer to Gil, trying to steal some of his warmth. I laughed and put his arm around my shoulders as we briskly walked down the sidewalk, knowing we probably would have to wait a while for a taxi.

I was pretty much out of it the whole walk home, the cold having me think of nothing but it. I tried to focus on Gil's bodyheat, but my hatred of the cold kept making my mind wander.

I've always hated the cold, ever since I can remember. I like snow, I just don't like the cold part about it. Same with ice skating. Winter in southern California wasn't so bad, I remember when my family spent Christmas up in the northern part, it was so cold.

That stabbing took residence in my brain again. It hurt, really bad. I pulled a shakey arm away from my body, my panda fell out of my arms, and clutched my head. I had to stand still while the pain washed over me, causing me to forget about the cold. It felt like I was being hit in the head with a sledgehammer, over and over.

I let out a strangled cry, not being able to hold it back. I held my eyes shut and felt Gil's arms wrap around me, and his breath on my face. He called my name, but I couldn't bring myself to answer.

As quickly as the pain had come, it dispersed. I was able to let go of my head and look into Gil's eyes, that were full of worry. I blinked and picked up my panda.

Feeling mostly fine now, I wanted the tension to go away, "Oh hey Gil. Didn't see you there." I ruffled his hair, because I could reach now that he was bending down to my level.

He grabbed my hand as I tried to lower my arm back to my side, "What the Hölle just happened?"

"Oh erm, don't worry about that, it happens sometimes." I said, trying to avoid the subject, but Gil didn't let my hand go, he was non-verbally demanding an answer.

"I was in a car crash last year when I was on vacation, I lost some of my memory, whenever I start thinking about things that are possibly related to the memories I've lost, my brain reacts defensively and it hurts. Bad." I said, grabbing Gil's arm again to keep me warm, I pulled him along the street, ignoring the people who had stopped and watched my little episode.

"Why does it hurt to remember a vacation?" Gil asked, confused.

"I don't know." I said. It shouldn't. Maybe a bit, but not this much.

We walked in silence, and before I knew it I was in front of my apartment. I faced Gil.

"Thanks for today Gil. I really had lots and lots of fun." I clutched my panda tighter.

Gil smiled, "Than want to go see a movie next Friday?"

"Fine by me."

Gil leaned down and suddenly kissed me, taking me by surprise, which I knew I shouldn't have been. After a second, the kiss deepened and I let my arms go around Gil's neck, and wander through his hair (Which was really freaking soft by the way.). Gil's mouth moved against mine confidently, like he was positive he was a great kisser, which he was.

I lost myself in the kiss, I was really, truly happy when the door we were standing in front of slammed open, and from it produced a very, very, _very_ angry Lovi.

We broke apart just in time to see Lovi pull out his gun and point it at Gil screaming, "DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH DESI, POTATO-BASTARD!"

"No Lovi!" I was able to catch him by surprise and managed to disarm him, only to have him pull out a switchblade and start threatening Gil again as soon as I dumped the rounds out of the gun. I had to put myself between Lovi and Gil, seeing as Lovi was not expecting me to try and take the knife away from him, his grip on it was steel-tight.

He told me to get out of the way, which I of course refused to do. I saw Feli's head peek over Lovi's shoulder, telling him to put the knife away.

Shortly after Feli appeared, Ludwig and Antonio also came into the scene. Antonio grabbed Lovi around the waist and lifted him off the ground, and carried the screaming Italian back into the apartment. I gave Lovi's gun to Feli, who pocketed it, promising to hide it later.

I turned back to Gil, "I'm sorry." I pouted for a second, disappointed in Lovi.

Gil patted my shoulder, "Do not worry, Fräulein, the awesome me is totally fine with your insane cousin." He bent down and kissed me again, just a peck, but it still made me smile. Gil walked over to his brother.

"Let's go West, we are more trouble than help right now. Say bye to your little boyfriend." Gil teased Ludwig, who turned a light shade of pink, and bade a also blushing Feli goodbye.

When the elevator doors closed, Feli and I went inside to go question Lovi, who was still trying to make Toni release him so he could kill the "Potato-bastard that molested Desi."

I had never seen him act this way, so I was guessing that all this time, everyone else was right about Lovi being insane and I was wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't think I've ever seen Lovi so mad. Poor Antonio's face was all messed up from Lovi's flailing arms, his nails catching the Spaniards cheek every now and then. You'd think that Lovi would calm down a bit after Gil left, but every time Toni let Lovi down, he'd put a gun out of some random place on his person and march towards the door, which is where Toni would grab him again and we'd repeat.

After doing this about five times, my patience thinned out, "Lovi, STOP THIS." I raised my voice, speaking to him like I would a particularly bratty child. I didn't enjoy using the tone I used when I babysat on my older cousin, after speaking to kids like this, they'd usually stop whatever they were doing and pout for a bit until I gave them some candy that was hidden away in my purse for just such an occasion.

Lovi seemed to only get angrier, and I didn't think that giving him a starburst would calm him down. Lovi's incomprehensible screaming suddenly became understandable, "DESI STAY AWAY FROM THAT POTATO-BASTARD!"

I was still confused as to why Lovi was taking this in such a violent way, if he had just seen Gil and I making out (just a bit), what would he do if he learned about my past? I sucked in a breath and decided to not think about it when I replied to the angry Italian, "It was just a kiss Lovi, calm down."

I glanced around for Feli, who had been very quite since we came back into the apartment. After a quick survey of the living room we were all gathered in, I didn't see him, but upon further examination I saw a familiar curl peek out from behind the couch. Feli had never liked fighting, and he usually cowered in a corner somewhere while one was going on. I brought this to Lovi's attention, "Look, you're upsetting your _fratello_."

"I don't give a damn! I mean it Desi, stay away from that _pervertito__maledetta__ex-__nazione__! __Io non vi permetterà di vederlo_!" Lovi spoke Italian rapidly, then punched Toni in the gut, demanding to be let go.

I might be a natural-born singer, but I was also a pretty good actress, "Lovi, _why are you so mean to me_? _If you loved me you'd be fine with me and Gil_!" and with that I fell to my knees, put my head in my hands, and wept. Seeing me cry, Lovi stopped trying to get Toni to put him down, and hung limply over his shoulder for a minute.

Once Toni deemed he had calmed down completely, he set him down and Lovi apologized to me, "I'm sorry Desi, don't cry. _Per favore_?" He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to my feet, I perked up instantly.

"So I can go with him to the movies next week right?"

"No."

"What? Why!"

"Movie theaters are dark."

"So?"

"He will rape you."

I face palmed, "Lovi Gil's to smart to try and rape me in public."

"No he's not." Lovi looked completely serious as the words came out of his mouth.

I felt my mouth pop open a bit for a second, and then I shut it, sighed, and pulled out my phone. I plopped down onto the cream colored couch that Feli had stop hiding behind and was now perched on the arm of. My fingers flew over the keys; I decided that I didn't want to provoke Lovi with going to the movies with Gil anyways.

**You: I can't make the movies.**

**Gil: Why?**

**You: Lovi.**

**Gil: Oh, so he's against us going anywhere together?**

**You: Just the movies, he thinks you're going to rape me as soon as the lights dim.**

**Gil: I don't rape on the second date, I'm way too awesome for that. Rape is more of a fourth, fifth date kinda thing.**

**You: Haha, you'd be too scared to do anything, mafia blood, remember?**

**Gil: You don't scare me Desideria Vargas, mafia or not, I think I could take a five-eight Italian. If we can't go to the movies on Friday, why don't we go to the Christmas dance?**

**You: There's a Christmas dance?**

**Gil: Sure is, signs have been posted all over the school, you've been here a week and haven't noticed them? It's a costume dance. **

**You: I don't really pay attention to the posters. I've never been to a Christmas dance that you were supposed to wear a costume to.**

**Gil: Our school is kind of messed up if you haven't noticed already. So will you go with me? What am I asking, of course you will! I'll pick you up at 6:30.**

**You: Well ok then. Just wear any costume?**

**Gil: Yeah, I'll be going as a sexy policeman.**

**You: Ok, see you on Monday, if Lovi allows me to spend my lunch period in the same room as you guys.**

**Gil: Nighty night Singvogel!**

I slid my dying phone shut and let Carmine steal it out of my hands. While he examined it, I glanced up to Lovi and Toni, and it appeared they were eating each other's faces. After a moment of shock, I turned to Feli, who was a bit red.

"What happened?" I asked him, my gaze flickering back to my cousin and friend.

"Ve~ Well Lovi was yelling at Antonio again, and to make him stop Toni kissed _fratello _and they've been going like this for about five minutes, but you were kind of absorbed so you didn't notice." Italy took my phone away from Carmine, who had been preparing to throw it across the room, and handed it back to me.

I yawned a bit, "I think imma go to bed. Night Feli." I stood up and started walking out of the room. Pausing, I called over my shoulder, "Night guys."

I didn't receive an answer, but I wasn't really expecting one, so I focused on ushering Carmine into my room, who didn't really want to spend the night in his new cage. After I changed his diaper and put him in his cage, I changed into a camisole and some silk shorts I enjoy wearing to bed, 'cause they're soft.

After taking off my makeup and earrings, I climbed into my bed and stared up at my princess canopy. I recall a younger me having a thing for princesses. I remember a summer in Italy I was actually wearing my Cinderella gown at the market with Feli, Lovi, and my uncle. We were having pasta for dinner, but there was none seeing as Feli ate it daily, which is why we were at the market picking up ingredients.

Actually, I think Ezio and Gabriella were with us, Ella also in a princess dress that I forced her to wear. At the time, I was around seven, so Ella was three and Ezio, being literally forced into coming that year, was about 20.

Some boys were making fun of me and Ella, teasing us because of our princess dresses. Lovi had already tried to attack them, but Feli told him they shouldn't harm their people. When one of the brats ripped Ella's Belle dress, I beat the shit out of him, only stopping when Lovi and Feli held me back. After I calmed down Ezio bent down and slid his around my stomach and pulled me up, leaving me to dangle limply at his side. He told me to not cause trouble and he carried me around like that the rest of the time we were outside.

Lovi wouldn't stop talking about those stupid kids when we returned back to our family's villa, saying he would have gotten them for me if Feli hadn't stopped him.

Feli was big on the whole "Don't hurt the country you represent's citizens" thing. Even if he was still a new rep, he had the whole thing down. Lovi didn't really care about being a rep as much as Feli did, he called it "The Immortal Curse of the Vargas's." When Italy's last two representatives were injured in a strange accident, the whole country was in fear of what would happen if they died, so someone did something to make such and such happen.

I don't know what, cause I'm not a country and I'm not supposed to know.

It was around this time that my bedroom door opened, and light peeked through a small crack. I glanced at the door and saw Feli's amber eyes looking at me.

"Ve~ Desi," Feli said softly, while coming into my room and shutting the door behind him, "can I sleep with you?"

I nodded, feeling a bit confused seeing as Feli would only chose to sleep with me when he was upset only if he and Lovi were fighting. I patted the empty space next to me and Feli pulled back the covers and lied down.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"Well, I was in my bed like I was supposed to be, when I heard these strange sounds coming from _fratello's_ room, I got scared, so I came in here."

"Strange sounds, huh…" We fell silent. I don't think it ever registered to Feli what those "Strange sounds" were, but I was not going to be the one to tell him what I thought they were. I smiled at Feli's innocence, and fell asleep holding his hand.

Getting out of bed in the morning was hard, seeing as Feli had wrapped around me in the night so I had to wrestle out of his surprisingly strong grip. Once he finally released me, I crouched near the cage next to my bed and released Carmine from his confinement.

He was rather annoyed with me, as he usually was after being forced to stay in his cage for more than an hour. He showed his annoyance by yanking on my hair while I quietly exited my bedroom. I was having a glare down with Carmine when I came into the kitchen and found Lovi and Toni drinking coffee.

"Hi." I greeted them softly, it was too early to be raising my voice any, "You guys have fun last night?"

Lovi did damage control, "We were wrestling." Toni snickered and patted Lovi's head.

I couldn't help but crack a smile too, did Lovi actually think that he could actually get away from this by saying they were wrestling? "Well your 'wrestling' scared Feliciano enough to push him to have to sleep with me. Maybe you should tone it down a bit?"

Toni nodded, "We will try to keep it down next time _amiga_."

After feeding Carmine, Feli woke up and trudged into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes trying to adjust to the sunlight pouring in through the windows. He wordlessly handed me my phone, which had been buzzing in his hand.

"_Grazie_." He nodded, acknowledging my thanks and I directed my attention to my phone, Lili had texted me about an hour ago, but my phone being stupid I only just got it.

**Lili: Are you going to the dance Desi?**

**You: Yeah, Gil asked me last night, you?**

**Lili: Emil wants me to go with him, but I don't know what to wear, or even if Vash will let me, I don't think he likes Emil to much.**

Emil was this guy in our homeroom; he was pretty cute, silver blonde hair, and crystal blue eyes. His older brother Noru was funny, Noru isn't actually his name, but none of us really know it cause he won't tell us, so we call him Noru cause he's Norway's rep, smart huh?

**You: Costume shopping! I'll meet you at your place in an hour?**

**Lili: Okay, where will we be going?**

**You: New York Costumes! See you soon~**

I set my phone down on the counter and ran back to my room to get ready, Carmine taking this chance to throw my phone at Lovi's head.

**Friday Night~**

I was over at Lili's house helping her get ready for the dance tonight. I was already in my pirate costume, and my hat kept falling off, causing some agitation while I was waiting for Lili to actually figure out how to put on her costume.

"Come on Lili, it's mostly just a dress, it shouldn't take this long." I called out to her and she popped her head out of the open closet door in her bedroom, "Isn't this a bit revealing?" she asked and she stepped into view.

I tapped my chin, looking at the fox costume I convinced her to get. It was a cute little orange and white dress (When I say little, I mean it. It was really short.), with a fox tail and a hood with ears on it. As I predicted, she looked really cute in it. She hadn't put on her fishnets yet, but I think her costume was pretty complete without it.

I considered sitting down, but it was kind of hard to sit because my boots weren't really made for letting my knees bend that much and it was hard to get them on so I wasn't taking them off until after the dance. Lili only had to wear some white Uggs, lucky girl.

Vash chose this moment to walk into Lili's room. He took one look at her dress, then slammed his head into the door and walked away. I blinked and then replied to Lili, "Well, it's a costume dance, so we girls have an excuse to dress like prostitutes." I still didn't understand why this was a costume dance, it wasn't even Christmas themed, it feels more like a Halloween thing.

Lili nodded and sat down at her little vanity and allowed me to do her makeup. I hummed quietly while working, "Is Vash going to the dance?" I asked her after I finished waving the mascara wand over her eyelashes.

"Yes, Roderich asked him. I'm quite surprised he said yes, actually." Lili bit her bottom lip in thought, I criticized her softly because she was going to get lipstick on her teeth.

After a few minutes of working on Lili's face, I straightened myself out to get a look at my finished work. When I did, my captains' hat fell off, again. I sighed and picked it up off the floor.

Right after I set it back onto my head, I heard the doorbell ring. I glanced at the clock on Lili's wall, it read 6:25. Lili and I had arranged for Gil and Emil to meet us here so we could go together instead of just meeting at the dance. Feli was going with Ludwig, because Ludwig finally found the courage to ask him, and Lovi and Toni were going together, so we will be meeting them along with everyone else at the dance.

"Lookie who's early." I said and glanced at Lili, she looked at me and we both looked at the semi-open door to her room. We both took off at a fast walk because we really couldn't risk running. We went through the narrow hallway of the apartment Vash owned and walked into the living room, where Vash was standing with his gun slung over his shoulder at the door.

"- want her home right after the dance. No funny business. If I find out anything happened, I will shoot you." Vash had a stern look on his face as he was talking to who I assumed was Emil, but couldn't be 100% sure because I couldn't see them.

"Don't worry Switzy, I'll make sure Emil here doesn't try and rape your sister." I heard the German accent, smiled and pulled Lili forward so we could look at our dates.

Gil dressed as a policeman like he said he would. He looked like a male stripper, and I looked like a hooker, so yeah, we kind of matched. He whistled when he saw Lili and me, Emil went a bit red.

Emil had dressed up as a sailor, he held his hat in his hands and twirled it around while studying Lili's costume, he smiled and complemented her and offered her his arm, which she took. Gill put his arm around my shoulder, which was easier now that I had these giant heels on.

We were already on the first floor of the apartment building, so we walked a couple feet into the lobby and Lili and I refused to move outside because it was very cold and we didn't want to wait for them to hail a cab in winter.

Lili and I played Slide while we waited in the warm building, every now and then we'd glance up to see our dates progress in the taxi department, only to find they weren't having much luck.

10 rounds and one broken nail later Emil came back into the building and escorted us outside. I climbed into the back next to Gil and shivered, brushing some snow off my shoulder. When it first started snowing when I got here, I freaked, but I've gotten used to it.

Gil pulled at my fishnets, stretching them a bit then released, they snapped back into place and said "I like your fishnets, they complete your costume."

"I know right? I can't wait to see what everyone else is wearing."

We joked and laughed on the way to the school. The traffic was terrible, as per usual, it being New York and all, and we finally arrived at our destination at about 7:10, we were a bit late.

No one was stupid enough to stand outside the school in the freezing air, so it pretty much looked deserted except for the single balloon someone tied to the door handle.

We hopped out of the cab and walked pretty quickly through the open gates of our school, up the little cobblestone path, and through the slightly ajar front doors. I rubbed my ears trying to warm them up. My nose was cold too but I didn't want to mess up my makeup. We all walked down the long hallways, well, Gil, Lili, and Emil walked, I hitched a ride on Gil's back, heading towards the auditorium.

Feli and Ludwig were waiting in front of the open doors, Feli sighed in relief when he saw us, "Ve~ I was starting to get worried!"

I slid off of Gil's back and admired Feli's cat costume. I tugged on one of his ears and he meowed at me. The tall German next to him was dressed as a soldier.

"Ludwig, your costumes boring. You should have been a vampire." I said, Ludwig gave a weak smile and herded us all into the room where everyone was dancing, hanging out with a group of friends, or standing alone in the corner looking like a loner.

The dance was pretty fun. Gil and I stuck pretty close to our group of friends in the beginning, but we eventually graduated to doing our own thing. We danced to pretty much every song, stopping only when I felt like my feet were going to be destroyed by my shoes. During the breaks we'd talk to other people, I met a lot of other students, and found out just how much Alfred likes being the hero, as he swooped into the dance later than us carrying Arthur like a princess in his Superman costume.

After a couple more dances, I sat down next to Lili, who was also taking a break from dancing, we sent our dates to go get us something to drink and chit-chatted for a bit, I glanced over to my left and saw a girl sitting by herself, looking rather bored. Her face struck a chord, and I remembered her from my chorus class. I slid into the empty chair next to me so I'd be close enough to talk to her, and Lili slid into my recently vacated seat.

"Hi. I'm Desi." I smiled at her, and she glanced up and smiled at me too.

She held out her hand, which I shook, "Madison's my name, but you can call me Madi. Nice to meet you." Madi had curly blonde hair and blue eyes, like pretty much everyone at this school. Lili introduced herself and we all jumped into a conversation.

"So Madi, are you a country?" I asked her, curious.

She shook her head, "Nah, I'm a city, Savannah, Georgia, are y'all countries?" I should have realized she was from down south, what with her accent and all.

"I'm Liechtenstein, but Desi is human." Lili said, poking me in the back. "I like your costume."

Madi looked down at her French Maid outfit; she picked at the frills for a second and smiled at Lili, "Thanks."

Emil lowered himself into Lili's old seat and handed her a drink, before quietly sipping his own. He lost his hat somewhere and couldn't seem to find it; his outfit didn't look complete without his hat. Lili thanked him and drank her punch, her lipstick coming off on her cup. When she was finished, I handed her my ever-present tube and she ran it over her lips. After I let her use my compact to check it, she handed them both back and I put them in a small pocket on my skirt.

"Did come here with anyone Desi?" Madi asked me, looking around. I nodded and pointed out Gil, who was arguing with the D.J because he kept playing Taylor Swift songs. "You're here with Gilbert? I feel bad for you." She laughed; she must know Gil from his wrong doings around the school.

"Gil's actually pretty great, he's funny." I said, "Who did you come here with?"

"I was coming with Atlanta and Georgia, but they got together last second so I'm here solo." I looked over to where she was looking, where a pretty girl with red hair was dancing with a brunette who was wearing a shirt that said "Got Atlanta?" under that in sharpie it said "Bitch, I AM Atlanta."

"I like his shirt." I announced, and Madi smiled.

"Yeah, he's been trying to figure out what to write on it for days."

We gradually moved onto the topic of getting kicked out of Wal-Mart. We were discussing our favorite ways when "Whipped Cream" started playing. I glanced over to the D.J booth and saw Gilbert had successfully hijacked it, controlling the speakers with one hand and using the other to hold a teacher away from the controls.

"We should go dance!" I jumped out of the metal chair and pulled Lili and Madison up with me.

"Ohmigosh I love this song!" Madi squeaked and I lead her into the crowd of dancing people, adjusting to the sudden change in song genres.

Madi and I sang along as we danced, Lili was kind of stiff until the chorus, when she started laughing at the way Madi and I were dancing with each other.

"_I think I'm entitled to your body gotta little problem with personal space and I've been poundin' the jaeger my breath and behavior have been driving the patrons away. _

_I want it with whipped cream on it  
>baby gimme gimme gimme your love 'cause I need it girl oh you gots to feed it you can't beat the heat that beats in my blood.<em>"

We had moved onto the next verse when the song cut off. Gil had forcibly given up his rights to the booth and the Home Economics dude was in control again. He wiped some sweat from his forehead and said into the microphone, "Okay, anyone up for some karaoke?

Our little trio all looked at each other, then I was like, "We should get everyone to do Lollipop with us."

"We should. Let's get up there!" it was Madi's turn to pull us through the crowd and up to the stage, where Gil was trying to regain control.

"Gil, we're gonna do Lollipop, wanna join in?" I asked him, he looked at me and nodded. He stopped trying to push past the teachers blocking his way and got behind Lili and was able to slip onto the stage with us.

Madi took the mic from Mr. Dublin, at least I think that's what his name is and said into it, "Attention, attention, Toris, Feliks, and Ravis, ya'll need to get your butts up here and sing with us."

I then took it from Madi's hand, "Feliciano and Lovino, you guys too."

Lili fidgeted while we waited for everyone to get on the stage. I let Gil fiddle with the computer to get it set up for our song, because if I touched it I'd surely mess it up. "I'm a bit nervous." Lili said quietly while I motioned for Lovi to get his butt onto the stage

"Well we're singing with a lot of people, so it'll be harder for your voice to be heard if you're nervous about your voice." I paused, "but if you're nervous about just standing up here performing in general, than you really just have to get over your stage fright, because you can't be nervous all the time in life when you're doing something on stage. You're a country aren't you? Man up." I patted her back and she bit her bottom lip.

So when we were all situated on the stage, we had a quick planning session. "Okay, so all of us in chorus will stick to how we rehearsed the song in class, if you aren't in our class, than just jump in whenever you feel like it."

Feliks nudged Toris "This is going to be like, sototallyfabulous." He grabbed his boyfriends arm and pulled him upstage, waving and blowing kisses like the pageant girl he was dressed as.

I slipped myself in between Madi and Gil and took Gil's hand, excited. Feli handed out Mics and Mr. Dublin set mic stands in front of everyone. I slid mine in and I had everyone test theirs, going down the row starting with Feliks.

"Fabulous!"

"Testing?"

"Mines working!"

"Testing."

"Hi ya'll, okay mines good."

"It's hot up here."

"Yeah it's the lights. Okay awesome, mines working."

"Let go of Desi's hand bastard."

"Ve~ Hi Ludwig!" Feli finished us off waving frantically into the crowd.

Gil motioned for Mr. Dublin to start the song.

**Feliks:** _**"What's the big idea?"**_**  
>Toris: <strong>_**"Yo, Mika!"**_

Madi and I so graciously lowered ourselves to doing background noises, which had us in a fit of giggles when we were done. 

**Feli/Toris/Lovi**_**: "I said sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>Oh, loves gonna get you down<br>I said sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>Oh, loves gonna get you down."<strong>_

**Gil/Desi/Madi/Feliks:** "_**Sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>Loves gonna get you down<br>Sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>Loves gonna get you down"<strong>_

**Desi/Madi/Lili/Feliks/Feli:** "_**Say love, say love Loves gonna get you down  
>Say love, say love<br>Loves gonna get you down."**_

**Gil:** "_**I went walking with my momma one day  
>When she warned me what people say Live your life until love is found<br>'Cause loves gonna get you down."**_

**Gil/Lovi/Toris: "**_**Take a look at the girl next door  
>She's a player and a downright bore<br>Jesus loves her but she wants more Oh, bad girls get you down."**_

**Gil:**_** "Sing it!"**_

**Gil/Desi/Madi/Feliks:** "_**Sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>Loves gonna get you down<br>Sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>Loves gonna get you down"<strong>_

**Desi/Madi/Lili/Feliks/Feli:** "_**Say love, say love Oh, loves gonna get you down  
>Say love, say love<br>Oh, loves gonna get you down."**_

**Gil/Toris/Lovi: **_**"Mama told me what I should know  
>Too much candy gonna rot your soul<br>If she loves you let her go  
>'Cause love only gets you down.<br>Take a look at a boy like me  
>Never stood on my own two feet<br>Now I'm blue as I can be  
>Oh, love only got me down."<strong>_

**Gil/Desi/Madi/Feliks:** "_**Sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>Loves gonna get you down<br>Sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>Loves gonna get you down"<strong>_

**Desi/Madi/Lili/Feliks/Feli:** "_**Say love, say love Oh, loves gonna get you down  
>Say love, say love<br>Oh, loves gonna get you down."**_

**Desi/Lili**:_**"I was walking with my momma one day  
>When she warned me what people say<br>Live your life until love is found  
>Or loves gonna get you down."<strong>_

**Gil/Desi/Madi/Feliks:** "_**Sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>Loves gonna get you down<br>Sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>Loves gonna get you down"<strong>_

**Desi/Madi/Lili/Feliks/Feli:** "_**Say love, say love Oh, loves gonna get you down  
>Say love, say love<br>Oh, loves gonna get you down."**_

**Gil/Lovi/Toris: **_**"Mama told me what I should know  
>Too much candy gonna rot your soul<br>If she loves you let her go  
>'Cause love only gets you down."<strong>_

**All:** _**"Waa-oh waa-oh waa-oh lollipop  
>Waa-oh waa-oh waa-oh lollipop<br>Sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>oh loves gonna get you down<br>Sucking too hard on your lollipop  
>oh loves gonna get you down<strong>_

_**Sucking too hard on your lollipop Hey loves gonna get you down**_

_**Lollipop!" **_

We finished and bowed, Gil was cracking up going, "Man, I can't believe we just did that." We straightened ourselves out to face our applauding audience, waved a bit, and then walked off the stage.

We all did karaoke a few more times, Madi and I sang some Blondie, Feli dragged Ludwig to the stage to sing some Taylor Swift, but when Ludwig figured out what he was about to do he picked up Feli and jumped off the stage, and the Bad Touch Trio attempted to sing The Bad Touch but was stopped by Mr. Dublin.

Lovi tried to kill Gil again, he was already in a bad mood about being forced to sing and Gil just provoked him by kissing me when he was watching us dance together like a hawk.

After we disarmed Lovi and patted him down for any other hidden weapons, the dance ended. We all exchanged our numbers, said some goodbyes, and received our goodbye kisses. Feli and I jumped up and down and squealed after Feli kissed Ludwig on his way out the gym and Ludwig didn't push him away. None of us bothered saying goodbye to Alfred and Arthur though, seeing as they were in the corner making out, wasted. Alfred had snuck some beer into the dance and they'd been drinking this whole time.

When Feli, Lovi, and I all arrived home, we all went straight to bed, exhausted. Carmine was pissed about being left alone already, so I received some clicking when I set him in his cage. I got a text from Madison as I got comfy in my bed.

**Madi: Tonight was so much fun! Thanks for hangin with me.**

**You: It really was fun, meeting you was probably the best thing I got out of tonight, we should hang out sometime this weekend.**

**Madi: We should! Night girl.**

**You: Night~**

I then got a drunken message from Alfred, but I really couldn't understand what he was talking about so I didn't bother trying to reply. He sent me a couple more until I finally just shut off my phone.

It didn't take long for me to fall asleep. I was so tired, I felt like I should just spend tomorrow taking a nap every few hours. I felt myself smile, than my consciousness faded into blackness.

I've always hated waking up in the middle of the night. I'd been having such a good dream, too. Sure I couldn't remember it but I know it was amazing.

I struggled for a second and finally got myself upright. I was confused as to what exactly woke me up, so I looked around my room, everything seeming completely ordinary. Then I checked myself over, nope, nothing wrong there either.

I rested my head back on my pillow, figuring it was just something random waking me. I started falling asleep again when I smelled it.

Smoke.


	6. Chapter 6

I went into panic mode. The smell of smoke was strong, too strong to be just a fire in the fireplace or Lovi smoking a cigarette. I lept out of my bed and released Carmine from his confinement. I ran towards my door and rested my hand on it, remembering from 3rd grade you should always feel to see if the door was hot before opening it. It wasn't warm, so I grabbed the door handle, turned it, and pushed.

It didn't give.

I stood for a second, soaking this in. I pushed again, it didn't open. Again, but harder. Nothing. I finally kicked the door, trying to break it off its hinges, but something was blocking it.

"Damn!" I cursed and returned to my bed, I lifted up my mattress a bit and my fingers closed around the gun Lovi had told me to keep in my room.

I gripped the back of Carmines shirt, holding him in place so when I fired he wouldn't try anything. I detached the safety and aimed at my door, I used a couple rounds to form a hole big enough for me to peek out of.

My heart was racing as I looked through my make-shift peek hole. There was a lot of smoke, and it burned my eye, making me blink away tears so I could actually see. I angled myself so I'd be able to see a bit of the living room from the short hallway my door was located in. I couldn't tell what as blocking my door, but it was something heavy seeing as it didn't get pushed back no matter how hard I kicked at the door.

I stepped away from my door and glanced around my room. Why the hell aren't there any windows? I started calling for Feli and Lovi, hoping they weren't in a similar situation and could release me. After a few moments of no answer, I returned to the hole in my door, I tried to locate the fire through the amount of vision given to me.

The couch and chairs in the living room were burning, the fire spreading across the carpet rapidly, catching on pretty much everything. Though the stench of the smoke, I could also pick out another distinct smell.

"Gas." I whispered, not talking to anyone, just to inform myself. So this wasn't accidental, I should have figured that much from the lack of the fire alarms, which with a look I could tell were destroyed. They hung limply from a wire, one of them being cut.

I had to call 911; I ran back to my bed and searched for my phone which was supposed to be right next to my pillow, only to find it wasn't there. What the hell?

I checked under my bed, ripped off my blankets and bed sheets, I tore apart my whole room looking for it. When it was nowhere to be found, I returned to my door to check the progress of the fire, only to find a soulless brown eye staring back at me.

I felt my blood run cold and I let out a scream. I retreated from the door and fell to my knees; I shook in place for a second before I noticed my carpet felt wet. I composed myself enough to lift my hand to my nose, before dropping it back to the ground and crying out once again. I called for Lovi and Feli again, but again not getting an answer

The smell of the gas filling my room had gone unnoticed before; because the line of it was so thin it was a complete miracle I found it. I backed into my wall, clutching my legs to my chest. I buried my face in my knees and held Carmine tight, who didn't complain because he could feel the danger of our situation in the air.

I barely even noticed the temperature change in my room when the fire came in from under my door. But Carmine did and he started going insane. He bit my hands and arms demanding to be let go, but I didn't release him, because he was safer with me than left to his own devices. The cuts he left stung, but not as much as the smoke did, I couldn't tell if I was crying from despair or the smoke in my eyes.

It burned my lungs, the coughs that racked my body made it hard to breathe. I didn't know what to do.

"What now?" I called out, I was able to taste the smoke on my tongue, and while going into another coughing fit I heard a distinct shouting, then the door opening and slamming shut. I pressed my ear against the wall that I knew on the other side was the stairwell, and I could hear Lovi yelling for people to get out of the building.

Lovi wouldn't leave without Feli, so they were safe. But why didn't he get me?

The fire was spreading quickly, the flames were all around me now, and I felt like I could pass out at any second. The bed I had vacated not ten minutes ago was already burning, along with my canopy and the streamers I had hung from the ceiling a couple days ago.

It was all on fire, my dresser, the panda Gil bought me, Carmine's cage and house stand, and my guitars. I returned my fetal position and cried what tears my body could stand to produce in this insane heat. Carmine was still biting me, my arms were covered in criss-crossed crescent moons and blood was dripping onto the carpet, but I didn't feel the pain anymore.

At least I thought I didn't feel the pain anymore. A tongue of fire licked across my pants leg, setting it aflame. I reacted as fast as I could, trying my best to rip the burning fabric away before it spread. Normally I'd stop drop and roll but I wasn't left with enough room to do that. After I successfully managed to get the fire off my clothes, I let out a scream of pain as I felt my burn become exposed to the air around it.

It was about at this time I lost consciousness.

_Lovi's P.O.V_

I had to get Feli out.

That was all that was running through my mind.

When I found him, he was hiding under his bed, passed out from the smoke that was flooding into his room. I managed to get my hand around his arm and drag him out of the small space he hid in. I threw him over my shoulder like a fireman and heard Desi screaming for us. Then the front door opened and closed.

_She must've gotten out. _

Feli was heavier than he looked, I struggled a bit while carrying him out his door, because not only could I not see because of the smoke, but I also was trying not to breathe, so the smoke couldn't incapacitate me and leave us both here to die.

I dodged the flames in the living room and reached the front door without catching on fire, I heard Feli's cat cry out from wherever she was, but I couldn't stop and help her. I was able to open the door and take a breath of clean air before I started shouting for our neighbors to get out of the building.

I took the stairs two at a time, not caring how dangerous it was, just wanting to get my brother as far away from the fire as I could.

I burst into the empty lobby and ran through the doors separating us from the dangers of a burning building to the safety of outside.

The fire trucks arrived once I fell to the ground panting. They were shortly joined by a few ambulances.

One of the men picked me up off the ground, where I was still clutching Feliciano, "Sir, are you alright?"

"Si, I'm fine, please look at my brother." I handed him off to one of the paramedics and let another one look me over.

Waking up to a fire was a surprise, even though it shouldn't have been. _We should have been more_ _prepared_. I looked up at our burning apartment on the top floor; I could now see the flames through the windows, destroying our home.

The other people who lived in the building all came out the doors quickly, too. The firemen looked over everyone, and one asked, "Is this everybody?"

I noticed something. I raised my head from where it had been buried in my hands. I looked around.

"Desideria?"

There was no answer, so I called her name louder. After nothing, I stood up and called for her again. Panic washed over me, and I sprinted back to the burning building that was holding my cousin captive.

As I tried to rush through the doors, a police officer stopped me, and held me tight, "What the hell do you think you're doing, kid?"

"My cousin! She's still in there! Let me go bastard!" I screamed at the man restraining me. When he didn't let me go, I called him every bad name I could think of in my native language.

The cop called to the firemen, "There's someone still in the building!"

"What floor, kid?"

"Top!"

People rushed past me, the cop let me go and I sunk to my knees. This was all my fault, she had been calling for us to _save_ her, not to get out.

I felt the worst I've ever felt in all of my rebirths over the centuries. I pretty much just killed my cousin, and if she's dead we're all fucked.

_Desi's P.O.V_

_It hurts._

_I can't breathe._

_I can't move._

_I have a gun._

_Should I just end it?_

_But I can't shoot myself._

_I can't even lift my arm._

_I'm burning again._

_It hurts._

_What do I do?_

_I can't put it out._

_It doesn't hurt anymore._

_Is that a good thing?_

_Why isn't the fire dying out?_

_Someone please._

_Help me._

The second that axe went through my door, I was able to understand again, understand that I might live.

"Desideria? Are you in here?" The voice called to me, still working at my door with the axe.

_I should respond_, I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

_I'm here._

My door broke to pieces and I knew someone was in the room with me, but I couldn't see them through the smoke, and couldn't hear their footsteps through the crackling of the fire. He couldn't see me; the flames were blocking me from his view.

"H-here." I forced the words to come out of my mouth in a whisper, they felt weird on my cracked lips, and they burned my throat.

A figure appeared in the smoke, it burned my eyes, but there was no water left that could come out of them. I couldn't see his face when he got closer, as it was covered by his mask. When he saw me he tensed up, nervous about coming any closer.

After a second he removed his jacket and set it over me, I cried out when the fabric touched my burned skin, and I screamed even more when he picked me up in his arms, whispering apologies into my ear.

I kept a tight grip on Carmine, who had given up biting me and was shaking in my arms, his fur singed, but he was unhurt for the most part.

The man carried me through the burning apartment, which was falling apart. I screamed when he had to shift me to get me through the front door, and I sobbed after every stair he ran us down.

The pain was unimaginable. I could never explain it to someone who has never been burned alive. It kind of like sticking your hand on the stove top, feeling the pain, than jerking your hand away, leaving it with a swollen red burn, but five-thousand times worse. Some of the burns didn't hurt when they were touched, the white ones. But I couldn't look down at them, or I'd be sick, so I kept my eyes on the fireman's helmet.

I tried to thank him. But I couldn't bring myself to speak so I just moved my lips soundlessly, hoping he understood.

He spoke to me while we were rushing down the stairs, "Everything's going to be okay, kid. You're going to be fine." He babbled to me while he ran, trying to take my mind of the pain, it wasn't working, but I still tried to award him with a smile.

I found I couldn't without whimpering, I must have some burns on my face, too. Now that I knew they were there, they stung. It felt like needles were being welded into my skin, I payed as much attention to the man as I could, listening to him talk about Feli and Lovi, and how they were alight. He moved on to tell me about how I reminded him of his little girl, the pretty eyes and the curls.

I don't think my hair is even really hair anymore, I think it's just blackened remains of hair; I knew my curls must be gone, but I could still feel the softness of some of the hair near my face, so some of it must have survived.

I'm tired. I desperately want to announce it to the man carrying me, but of course I can't. Would this be one of those situations where I'm told not to fall asleep? Because falling asleep equals dying. I don't know, but all I want to do now is sleep.

When the man realized I was falling asleep, he lightly touched my skin on a charred burn. I immediately responded by screaming and then falling into a fit of coughs. He apologized again, and told me to stay awake.

By now we were in the lobby of the apartments, the man had to move me from holding me in both of his arms to holding me with one arm against his chest while he opened the front door. I sobbed a bit more from the pain, knowing screaming wasn't getting me anywhere.

When the cool night air hit my skin, I whimpered again as the air around me was filled with cheers from the civilians that had gathered around the building to see this man make a heroic act. I heard Lovi screaming my name, and he rushed to the man holding me, along with some paramedics with a gurney.

I guess the smoke damaged my eyes, because everything was all blurry. I couldn't really see Lovi's face, but I knew he was crying, from the wetness the dripped down onto my burned cheek after the man had set me down rather painfully onto the gurney.

The paramedics took one look at me, freaked out, then whisked me away into the ambulance, Lovi had barely just made it in when they slammed the doors shut and sped down the street.

"Hook her up to an I.V"

When I started coughing my brains out again, everyone froze. It was getting hard to breathe

"Start ventilation."

A tube was shoved down my throat, and someone touched an area of charred skin, I writhed in place for a second while the pain washed over me, and decided to just fall asleep so I could handle the pain.

I woke up when the paramedics moved me out of the ambulance and turned me over to the surgeons, who wheeled me into the E.R. I had to shut my eyes when we entered the building because my eyes were still hurting from the smoke and it was too bright.

"Trauma room three." Someone on duty called out, a couple turns later I was stationary in a room while the doctors set up my I.V again, and took me off ventilation once the swelling in my throat went down.

The air hurt my throat and burned my lungs, but I didn't complain, because the doctors were busy with trying to keep Lovi out of the room.

"What the hell? Let me in!" Lovi attempted to push past them with no anvil.

"Sir, this is a trauma room, you can't be in here."

The doctor and Lovi went back and forth for a minute until another guy came into the room, "Leave him be, we need to get started. If he can't handle it, we can kick him out then. Why the hell is there a monkey on my patient?"

I turned my head to face Lovi, begging him with my eyes to come get Carmine. He must have understood because he spoke up.

"It's her stuffed animal, I'll get it." He picked up the shivering Carmine and held him to his chest.

"Kid, this is going to be pretty bad, if you can't handle it, get out." My doctor spoke to Lovi, who nodded, and then lifted the fireman's jacket off of me, exposing my burns to the air, I whimpered and Lovi gasped, putting his hand over his mouth.

"Desideria, we need to take off your clothes, are you okay with that?" the doctor asked me, I nodded, knowing that even if I said no he'd do it anyways. "Shut the blinds." He ordered someone, and they did.

When the nurses began to undress me, Lovi couldn't stand my cries and he quietly exited the room.

_Lovi's P.O.V_

I couldn't just sit in there and listen to someone I love cry in pain, I couldn't. I stood outside her room, sitting against to wall with my head in my hands, still able to hear Desi.

I took out my phone and speed-dialed Antonio, not knowing what else to do. Toni picked up on the third ring, " _'Ola_?"

"Get your ass to the hospital." I growled, not caring about whether he was asleep or not.

Toni's voice lost its grogginess, "Why, _mi tomate_? What's wrong?" There was the squeak of his metal bed frame and he got out of bed.

I swallowed hard, "There was a fire, Feli's fine, just little burns and he inhaled a lot of smoke but he should be good, but Desi's bad."

"How bad?"

"If I didn't know she was the only one left in the building I wouldn't have recognized her when they brought her out."

Desi's small cries turned into screams in the room. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. "Oh _fuck_. This is all my fault, Toni."

Antonio could no doubt hear Desi in the background, he drew a long breath.

"I'm on the way; I'll call the others on the way out." Then he hung up.

I couldn't be here right now, so I picked myself up off the ground and walked down the hallway back into the E.R, looking for Feliciano. He was sitting in one of the beds that lined the wall, I should have seen him when I came in, but I was too preoccupied with Desi.

He was awake now, sitting and looking down at his clenched fists. I sat down at the edge of his bed.

"How are you?"

He sighed, "I'm alright, a few first-degree burns, and the doctors are a bit concerned about the smoke inhalation so they might keep me here a couple days. You?"

I ran my fingers through his hair, "Fine, just a little first-degree on my elbow."

"Desi?"

"She's not okay, can you not hear her?" As if on cue, a scream drifted down the hall into the room, I moaned and returned my head into my hands, "She's got a lot of third-degrees, and a couple seconds. She doesn't even look like her anymore."

Feli was quite for a moment, "Yeah I saw her come in, well I didn't _see_ her, but you know what I mean."

We lapsed into silence, a nurse came over and looked at my burn before declaring it was nothing serious and handed me and ice pack.

About five minutes later Antonio rushed into the E.R, his hair wasn't brushed and his shirt was wrinkled, and probably dirty. I got up from Feli's bed and hugged him, not really knowing what else to do.

"I called Ludwig and Gil, they are on their way and Ludwig said he'd contact Lili through Vash. No one else picked up their phones." Toni spoke softly, resting his chin on my head.

"Toni, _it's my fault_."

"It's not your fault _mi tomate_,Desi will get upset when she hears that you think it is."

Another cry of pain, I buried my head deeper into Toni's chest, an old woman with a broken arm in the bed next to Feli looks up at the nurse tending to her, "Poor thing, just breaks your heart doesn't it?"

I looked over Tonio's shoulder and saw that potato-bastard run to my brother, and check him over. Following after him, Gilbert and Lili came up to me.

Lili asked first, "Where is she?" Lili was still in her pajamas, and if she wasn't a girl, I'd have made fun of her, but she was, and she was related to Vash so I kept my mouth shut. Gilbert looked paler than usual, and I felt kind of bad for him, he obviously really liked my cousin, and it was kind of depressing to see him upset like this. Not that I'd ever admit it.

I grabbed Toni's hand and led them down the hallway with the trauma rooms. Desi screamed again when we stopped in front of the closed door. After the scream ended, she begged the staff in Italian, "_Per favore__! __Si prega di__Stop!_" Her voice cracked and you could tell it took a lot out of her just to speak.

Gil put his hand over his mouth, "What the fuck are they doing in there? It sounds like they're tourturing her!"

"I think they're preforming an escharotamy." Lili whispered, "She must be in so much pain."

"_Dios mío_." Antonio whispered, gripping my hand tighter.

We all stood there silently for a few minutes, listening to Desi's cries and pleads. Every time she yelled Lili would have to grab my shoulder to hold herself up, then she'd compose herself in time for the next one.

Eventually a nurse came out of the room, from my angle, I could see a bit of Desi through the door when she opened it. She was lying on the gurney shivering, pretty much completely naked. Her body was shaking from the sobs escaping her lips; I recognized them as the ones that she used whenever she was trying to compose herself. Her screams and cries weren't making anything easier for the doctors, but she just couldn't help it.

The nurse looked at us, all gathered around the room. "Can some of you come help us?" She asked us, and we all stared at her like she was insane. "She's quite upset. After suffering a trauma that big, a bunch of strangers poking her with scalpels is scaring her. And it hurts like hell. It would help if a few of you went in there and comforted her, we just need you to talk to her, distract her from what we're doing."

Toni looked at me, "Go _mi tomate_, she needs you. I'll bring Carmine to Feli and Ludwig." He lifted the monkey that was sitting quietly on my shoulder onto his own and walked away.

The nurse gave us instructions, "Okay, if you decide to go in, you can't leave. Her feeling will be hurt and you'll make her feel worse. Don't react when she screams, or to anything we do. Just act like it's a completely normal day. Oh and she's kind of naked. Almost. All in all, don't freak out, or we are going to have to kick you out."

When we all nodded and promised not to have a panic attack, she opened the door and said, "Desi, I brought your friends." We walked in after her; I ignored the tears rolling down Desi's face and the hideous burns covering her body and grabbed the metal chair I sat in earlier and set it by her head. Lili and Gilbert did the same.

Her eyes darted from each of our faces, her lips moved like she wanted to say something, but couldn't make herself talk.

"Hi Desi, I have to say, you don't look to good." Lili smiled at her, and Desi attempted to smile back, but the burn on the side of her face hurt her, stopping her smile in its tracks. She nodded instead.

"She's right, and I didn't think that the first time I'd see you in your underwear would be at the hospital." Gil laughed, and Desi reached up and grabbed my arm, no doubt expecting me to try and kill him, like I felt like doing, but knowing it'd probably upset her, I held back.

"Don't worry; I don't have enough energy to shoot that damn potato-bastard today." I held her hand and she smiled at me, pleased that I wasn't getting into fights. Then her smile dispersed and she bit her lip, holding back a scream, she looked away from me, up at the ceiling, and I look at the doctor.

He was running a scalpel across her burns, cutting them deep. It's no wonder why she was screaming bloody murder in here, that shit must _hurt_. I swallowed hard. How was this helping her exactly?

When Desi released her bottom lip, you could see the marks from where her teeth cut into the skin, held down so hard they started bleeding, she opened her mouth a whispered something at us. Lili put her ear next to her mouth and she repeated it.

"She wants us to sing for her, separately." Lili explained to us, I guess I'll go first, I'll sing some Taylor Swift."

"_I'm five years old  
>It's getting cold<br>I've got my big coat on_

_I hear your laugh  
>And look up smiling at you<br>I run and run_

_Past the pumpkin patch  
>And the tractor rides<br>Look now - the sky is gold  
>I hug your legs and fall asleep<br>On the way home_

_I don't know why all the trees change in the fall  
>I know you're not scared of anything at all<br>Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away  
>But I know I had the best day<br>With you today_

_I'm thirteen now  
>And don't know how my friends<br>Could be so mean_

_I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab the keys_

_And we drive and drive  
>Until we've found a town<br>Far enough away_

_And we talk and window-shop  
>Until I've forgotten all their names<em>

_I don't know who I'm gonna talk to  
>Now at school<br>I know I'm laughing on the car ride home with you  
>Don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay<br>But I know I had the best day  
>With you today<em>

_I have an excellent father  
>His strength is making me stronger<br>God smiles on my little brother  
>Inside and out<br>He's better than I am_

_I grew up in a pretty house  
>And I had space to run<br>And I had the best days with you_

_There is a video  
>I found from back when I was three<br>You set up a paint set in the kitchen  
>And you're talking to me<em>

_It's the age of princesses and pirate ships  
>And the seven dwarfs<br>Daddy's smart  
>And you're the prettiest lady in the whole wide world<em>

_Now I know why all the trees change in the fall  
>I know you were on my side<br>Even when I was wrong  
>And I love you for giving me your eyes<br>Staying back and watching me shine_

_And I didn't know if you knew  
>So I'm taking this chance to say<br>That I had the best day  
>With you today<em>"

Lili softly sang the last note, and then stared into the face of the smiling girl on the gurney, who was ignoring the pain, just happy her shy friend would sing in front of strangers for her.

"_Grazie_." Desi thanked her in a whisper, "When- get out, we need- go shopping." Her voice kept cracking, and it was kind of hard to understand her. Lili nodded anyways and motioned for me to go next. I had to think a bit before I came up with a song from a band Desi liked.

"_I dreamed I was missing  
>You were so scared<br>But no one would listen  
>'Cause no one else cared<em>

_After my dreaming  
>I woke with this fear<br>What am I leaving  
>When I'm done here?<em>

_So if you're asking me  
>I want you to know<em>

_When my time comes  
>Forget the wrong that I've done<br>Help me leave behind some  
>Reasons to be missed<br>And don't resent me  
>And when you're feeling empty<br>Keep me in your memory  
>Leave out all the rest<br>Leave out all the rest_

_Don't be afraid  
>I've taken my beating<br>I've shared what I've made  
>I'm strong on the surface<br>Not all the way through  
>I've never been perfect<br>But neither have you_

_So if you're asking me  
>I want you to know<em>

_When my time comes  
>Forget the wrong that I've done<br>Help me leave behind some  
>Reasons to be missed<br>Don't resent me  
>And when you're feeling empty<br>Keep me in your memory  
>Leave out all the rest<br>Leave out all the rest_

_Forgetting all the hurt inside  
>You've learned to hide so well<br>Pretending someone else can come  
>And save me from myself<br>I can't be who you are_

_When my time comes  
>Forget the wrong that I've done<br>Help me leave behind some  
>Reasons to be missed<br>Don't resent me  
>And when you're feeling empty<br>Keep me in your memory  
>Leave out all the rest<br>Leave out all the rest_

_Forgetting all the hurt inside  
>You've learned to hide so well<br>Pretending someone else can come  
>And save me from myself<br>I can't be who you are  
>I can't be who you are<em>"

Desi didn't make any sounds while I sang, in the past she'd always beg me to sing with her in the streets in Italy, and I'd always be to embarrassed to do it, so I'd just watch her and Feli sing some ridiculous song and get money from citizens when they were done.

"I wish I had my guitars." Desi spoke slowly, forcing each word out so they made sense. Her breath hitched in her throat when the doctor started on another burn, so I kissed the unharmed part of her forehead.

"I know."

I passed the baton over to Gilbert, who had been patiently waiting his turn, completely out of character.

"_Now that she's back in the atmosphere  
>With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey<br>She acts like summer and walks like rain  
>Reminds me that there's time to change, hey, hey<br>Since the return from her stay on the moon  
>She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey<em>

_Tell me did you sail across the sun  
>Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded<br>And that heaven is overrated_

_Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star  
>One without a permanent scar<br>And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there_

_Now that she's back from that soul vacation  
>Tracing her way through the constellation, hey, hey<br>She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo  
>Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey, hey<em>

_Now that she's back in the atmosphere  
>I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ol' Jane<br>Told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never left land_

_Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet  
>Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day<br>And head back to the Milky Way  
>And tell me, did Venus blow your mind<br>Was it everything you wanted to find  
>And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there<em>

_Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken  
>Your best friend always sticking up for you even when I know you're wrong<br>Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance five-hour phone conversation  
>The best soy latte that you ever had . . . and me<em>

_Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet  
>Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day<br>And head back toward the Milky Way_

_Tell me did you sail across the sun  
>Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded<br>And that heaven is overrated_

_Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star  
>One without a permanent scar<br>And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there_"

Desi reached up with her free hand and grabbed Gil's, "Love that song." Gil smiled, leaned down, and kissed her lightly on the lips.

I felt my temperature rise, and Desi squeezed my hand, reminding me where we were.

The doctor caught the attention of one of the nurses, "Prep an O.R please."

I looked up at him, "You're taking her into surgery?"

"We have to repair her nerves. Sign this please."

I looked over the consent form and signed it, handing it back to the man, and looking back at Desi.

"We'll see you once you get out of surgery, Desi. _Ti amo_." I kissed her hand and set it softly back onto the gurney.

"_Ti amo_ Lovi, Gil, Lili. Ciao." She said softly as they wheeled her out of the room.


	7. Chapter 7

__**Ciao! Thank you violet-hana and teenbooks4eva, your guys reviews made me happy and all fluttery inside :D. It took me longer to write this chapter than it should have, but I just got a new haircut, so now my hairs the perfect length for my Poland and Liechtenstein cosplays that I'll be doing at MomoCon in a month, and I don't have to buy a wiggg, yay! So yeah i couldn't stop playing with it going, "Wow, it's short!"**

**I was listening to Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne while writing this chapter the whole time I was like, "Thisissoboring."**

**I'll shut up now.**

* * *

><p><em>Lili's P.O.V<em>

I found it hard to tear my eyes away from the door Desi disappeared through. I've only known her a couple weeks, but it's felt like so much longer. We have a connection, Desi was like the sister I never had. I love my brother to death, but he can't ever take the place in a girl's heart reserved for her sister.

We were all silent for a minute, I don't think that the boys realized it, but that could have just been the last time we will ever see Desi alive. So much could go wrong during a surgery, and after she gets out, Desi will have to fight hard against the infections trying to take over her body.

I couldn't even think about what Desi would say when she actually saw herself for the first time; she would no doubt be horrified by the burns that littered her body, staining her pretty skin red, black, and white. There was a high possibility of her developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which would only make her healing progress slower. If she gave up on trying to get better all together, there was really nothing we'd be able to do to change her mind. What happens if she gives up? I don't know, and I don't want to find out. I only know it isn't good.

"She didn't mean it you know."

I tore my gaze away from the door my friend had gone through moments earlier, to look at who had spoken. Lovino had his hazel eyes locked with Gilbert's scarlet ones; he clenched his hands into fists.

"What do you mean?" Gilbert questioned Lovi, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"She doesn't love you, she's gone crazy. In a couple days she probably won't even remember what happened tonight."

"_Ja_, I know."

"Why are you even with her? If you're so _awesome_ you could have pretty much any damn girl in the world! Why some breakable little human?"

"Because I care for her."

"No you don't. She's just your little interest for the moment, and soon enough she's going to find you with someone else, and she's so stupid it'll already be to late for her to just dump you, you'll have her wrapped around your finger."

"_Nein_, she isn't stupid, and I won't hurt her like that. Cheating is unawesome, just like being a dick and using someone."

Lovi got into Gil's face, tonight's events have gotten to him, you could see it in his eyes, they were filled with anger and grief. Gil stood his ground against the angry Italian, not looking a bit afraid.

"When you hurt her, _I'll fucking kill you_." Lovi spat out every word, and then stalked out of the room, pushing past me on his way to the door.

I held out my arms to steady myself so I didn't fall to the ground, and Gilbert held my arm, assisting me.

"_D-Danke_." I stuttered out, and Gil started leaving the room too, so I followed him. "Where are you going?"

"Waiting room, I'd go to check on Feliciano but I'd rather not encounter Lovino again."

We walked through the trauma hallway, and Gilbert stopped a nurse, "Entschuldigen Sie mich, where does the family of people in surgery go for updates?"

The nurse pointed to a door on our right, "Go through there and keep to the left, you'll know the room when you see it."

Gilbert thanked her and walked off at a brisk pace, his long strides covered more distance then my small ones, so I was practically running to keep up with him. The beige walls of the hospital all looked the same to me, and I couldn't tell you whether we were going around in circles or not to save my life.

Gilbert turned left at the first intersection, then again at the next one, and again.

He stopped suddenly and I ran into his back, not expecting his movement to cease. When I situated myself again, I peeked out from behind Gil at the O.R waiting room.

People were sitting by themselves on hard metal chairs pushed up on the wall, while others were huddled in groups around one of the few couches in the room. Each couch was a different color, and none of them went together, I smiled, knowing Desi would try and call a citizen's arrest on whoever picked out the furniture for this particular room.

Gilbert plopped into a metal chair and stared at the double doors that everyone was watching, waiting for news about their loved ones. I sat down next to him and smoothed out the wrinkles on the small dress I wore to bed. No matter how I smoothed it, the wrinkles on the pink satin kept popping up, much to my annoyance.

I sat quietly for a moment, ignoring my dress, and stared at the door with Gil. After a couple minutes I thought I should inform him, "Gilbert, you know that this is going to take a long time, right?"

"_Ja_."

"They have to repair her nerves, and do some skin grafting; it's going to take hours."

"Skin grafting?"

"Yes. A skin graft is when they take skin from your body and move it from place to another so it can heal, Desi doesn't have enough healthy skin so they're going to be doing an allograph."

"Allograft?"

"They take the skin from a cadaver."

"Cadaver?"

"Gilbert, you don't know any medical terms do you?"

"_Nein_."

"A dead body." I finished and took a breath, a bit peeved that I'd have to explain a medical procedure to someone who should know after living for so long. Gil blinked at me.

"Desideria's going to have a dead person's skin?"

I looked at him from the corner of my eye, "Yes."

Gilbert swallowed hard, and bit the inside of his lip, "That's- that's so-"

"Disgusting?" I offered for him, and he nodded, "Don't you ever say that to Desi, she needs all the emotional support she can get after this ordeal, and you being grossed out by her skin is going to mess her up, seeing as she thinks you like her for her and not who she is on the outside."

"I do," Gil muttered softly, running a hand through his silver locks, "but she had such pretty skin, what's going to become of it now?"

"It depends on if the doctors can do well in plastic surgery and if Desi has the will to keep going on to get better."

"Then she will be fine." Gil concluded and focused all f his attention to the doors, forgetting everything I told him about the waiting.

Gil was pretty hopeful that Desi could pull through emotionally, but I wasn't as sure. Desi was a teenage girl; she was _16_, that's too young of an age to be disfigured in anyway.

In a week she should be worrying about where Gilbert was going to take her on a date, not about if she will survive another surgery, can continue battling the infections fighting to take over her body, and about how she will look when this is all over.

I've lived much, much longer than Desi, even though we were both physically the same age, I was hundreds of years older, being old enough to remember the time when the Holy Roman Empire still existed on earth, and owned rights to my country.

I cracked my neck, I wasn't supposed to do it because it would hurt later and it gave Vash headaches, but I was starting to feel old, so I felt the need to crack some bones.

* * *

><p><em>Gil's P.O.V<em>

I don't know how Lili was able to fall asleep like that, one second she was cracking her neck, and the other she's pressed up on me dead to the world. When she was awake, she looks too much like Vash for my tastes, but when she's asleep she's pretty cute, but not in the same way as Desi.

I put my arm around her, holding her in place so she didn't fall off the chair. I didn't have any bad intentions, so I don't know why when Vash found me like this ten minutes later he bust a tit. Figuratively speaking anyways.

Vash having a fit wasn't very awesome of him considering where we were, so I quickly handed Lili over to him to get him to shut the hell up. He shot me one last glare, and carried his little sister princess style out of the waiting room.

I took my IPod out of my pocket, where it always stayed and rarely ever left. I shoved the ear buds in and let myself drown in the music. Each song carried a new meaning with it, a new story. Each song held different feelings, different lyrics that meant different things to different people.

Being different is what makes a person. If people weren't different, we'd all just be faceless aliens with no purpose.

I think it was an hour later when my phone started vibrating. I thought I was too tired to look at it, but I found my hand bringing it to my face anyways.

**Ludwig: How is everything on your end?**

**You: No news yet.**

**Ludwig: That could be a good thing. **

**You: What about Feliciano and Lovino, how are they?**

**Ludwig: They are grieving, even if Desideria is not dead, they are hurt. It looks like we will be taking care of her monkey until Desi is released, too.**

**You: That's fine. But why?**

I heard the creak of a door and my gaze shot up to the place that has been holding my eyes hostage ever since I sat down. A surgeon walked out of it, and I could feel the tension in the room rise. Someone was about to either get really good news, or terrible news.

When the doctor started walking my way, I froze. Not being able to look at my now vibrating phone, just focusing on the surgeon that could be carrying news on Desi. There was a small amount of blood on the surgeon's cheek. I was sure she thought she had removed all evidence of a bloody surgery, but had forgotten about wiping off her face.

I let out the breath I'd been holding in as she walked past me, not knowing if it was out of relief or disappointment. I turned my head to see who she'd deliver news to. She walked slowly, too slowly for anyone's tastes, everyone eager to know if their loved ones are alive or not.

The surgeon stopped in front of an old woman, who was accompanied by a younger man, who I guessed to be her son. The old woman looked so frail, so helpless; I wanted so much for the news to be good. The surgeon started talking, waving her hands around. She must be Italian.

I knew my wants for good news were worthless when the old woman fell out of her chair, onto the ground, her body shaking with sobs. Her son put an arm around her, hurting as well, but trying to comfort her as best he could.

I had to **look** away from the immobilized woman; I could hear the surgeon uttering her deepest apologies, then her footsteps as she walked away. The clack of her heels grew thin as she got further and further away, until I couldn't hear them anymore, and the only sound filling the room was the crying old lady on the floor.

I tried to block out her cries, as they were weakening my resolve, I could feel a dull burning behind my eyes, and I focused on everything else in the room. I absorbed the ugly beige wallpaper, the stainless white tiles, and the sterile smell lingering in the air. This whole room was depressing. I found myself suffocating.

I got out of my chair and walked out the automatic doors that lead to the front of the hospital. The freezing air hit me hard, I didn't have a jacket, but the cold didn't bother me as much as it should have. I accepted it gratefully, gulping down the air like I'd been underwater for hours.

How unawesome, being forced to this lame version of me after seeing an old woman cry. I listened to the chatter of the people on the street, and the cars honking and driving past. I never took my eyes off the moon, full and shining.

The white orb seemed to mock me. _Ha ha Gil, look at you, stuck down there worrying, while I'm up here being all bright and shiny, blah, blah, blah-_

"Shut the hell up moon." I spat at it, causing some people who were near me to gaze at me, confused. I spun around and stalked back into the hell hole people called a place of healing.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm very sorry for the short chapter, only 2k words, but waiting is kind of hard to drag out, soyeah.<strong>

**Finding out the relationship between HRE and Liechtenstein was a surprise, like, noway.**

**OH, So I'm doing one of those "Send your letters to 'Insert name here'" kinda things, I think someone should send in a letter, cause no one has ever done this particular state and it bothers me. You should send a letter. Seriously.**

_**~Ayai**_


	8. AN: Accepting OC's!

Hey y'all, it's me. Who else would it be? I'm accepting OC's to stick into Songbird, some might have big roles, and some might not. I'm not sure of how many I'll pick, so if you submit an OC it might not have a big impression on the story, but if I ever decide to write a side-story, I might include them.

SO SEND IN YOUR OC'S

_**Form: *'s mean REQUIRED**_

*Name:

*Age:

*Appearance:

*Personality:

*Good or evil?:

Personification of _ (If they are a country/state/city whatever.):

*Gender:

Sexual Orientation (Lesbian/Gay/Straight, if you don't answer this, I'll pick whichever one I want.):

Cake or Pie?:

Cherry or Blueberry?:

Oil or Cream?:

*Are you attending HWA?:

If you were any type of cookie, what kind would you be?:

Was Beethoven Austrian or German?:

Favorite Artist (I mean musical, of course.):

If above is Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus, your application will be ignored. If they are your favorite, then just don't tell me. _Lie_.

Well that's about it, so send in your OC's please, or imma just have to make up new characters by myself, and I find that a lot of unneeded work.

Well, Kthxbye.

No one will probably send in an app anyways, why am I even writing this?


	9. Chapter 9

Surgery is a scary thing.

Which is probably why I had a meltdown before the anesthesiologist put me under.

The second that man started to bring the mask down on my face, I reacted instinctively, lashing out and trying to get out of the room. All of my reasoning had left me, and I attempted to pull myself off the table I'd been settled on, only to find that I was in too much pain to do so. So I settled for just flailing around and hitting everyone that dared to get within my vicinity.

Even when all the doctors backed off, I still screamed, demanding to be released. When the surgeons figured my little episode was over and stepped back up to the table, only for my screaming to resume and a couple bruised guts.

I wanted nothing more than for these people to leave me the hell alone. The second I stopped screaming to take a breath, two surgeons grabbed my arms and another two grabbed my legs, holding me in place a preventing a possible injury on their part. They started strapping me down, causing me to start crying and calling out for everyone to come and save me from the people I was sure were going to kill me at the time.

I called out Lovi's name, knowing he'd be the first to try and rescue me. When that didn't work I called for Feli. Then Gil. Then Lili. Mama. Papa. Madi. Matthew. Francis. Ludwig. Toni. Alfred. Arthur. Kiku. Vash. Toris. Feliks. Ravis (who I didn't know really, but he was really sweet.). Gabriella. And I even cried out for Ezio.

I was moving on to my distant family members when I felt the sting of a needle, and was able to turn my head to glare at the anesthesiologist with a small cut on his cheek while he sedated me.

"How _dare_ you-" I began, my eyelids felt heavy, and I fought to keep them open. I was pretty stubborn, so I went back and forth with my eyelids for a bit.

_Close_.

No.

_Close_.

Don't tell me what to do, bastard.

_Close_.

Oh alright, if you insist.

* * *

><p>I hurt.<p>

Not the "_Mama! I fell and skinned my knee!_" kind of hurt, or the "_That lunatic just fucking shot me!_" hurt. No it was the "_I was just roasted in an oven for like a hour_." kind of hurt.

The pain wasn't located in just one place, it was all over. My burns stung, and it hurt to breathe, the smoke having damaged my lungs so greatly. I didn't dare open my eyes, they hurt, too. I can't explain it, they still felt heavy, the feeling you get while sitting around a campfire with friends late at night. Or after being under general anesthesia for who knows how long.

Without opening my eyes, I tried to figure out as much as I could about where I was. I ran my hands over a coarse blanket covering me, or I assume it's a blanket, as it most definitely is now that I know I'm in a hospital bed.

I listened for anyone's presence in my room, straining as hard as I could to try and pick up on sounds of breathing and whatnot. After a minute of hearing absolutely nothing but my own ragged breathing, and the beep of my heart monitor, I registered that I was alone. For some reason, a wave of calmness washed over me, warming me up, not hot, but just the right amount of heat to make me feel all fuzzy inside.

I relished the warmth for a second when it clicked. I was alone.

The warmth disappeared and the fuzzy feeling inside my stomach turned to fear. My eyes shot open and I forced my protesting body into a sitting position. My throat tightened up and I felt the tears spring to my eyes as they darted around my room, hoping that my ears had been wrong, and that someone was there. The chair next to my bed was empty, and the light in the bathroom was turned off.

I was scared. I felt sick, and I started whimpering.

_Where was he?_

_He's supposed to be here._

_He needs to be here._

_So where is he?_

"Lovi."

His name escaped my shaky lips, coming out sounding a bit strange, with my throat being so damaged. I don't know if I expected an answer back, but I waited for one. I held my breath, growing impatient.

I realized he wasn't coming for me, and my whimpering turned into sobbing.

"Lovi!" I cried his name, and kept repeating it, each time I got louder. "Lovi! Lovi! _Lovi_!"

I tried to get out of my bed, to stand on my feet. The wires were holding me hostage, so I ripped them out. My heart monitor went crazy as I swung my injured legs over the side of my bed, and gingerly put my weight onto them, trusting them to keep me standing.

I put my trust in the wrong place because they crumpled under me, too weak to support me. I couldn't pull myself off the floor, so I just sat there and cried for my cousin.

"Lovi! _You're supposed to be here_!" I wailed, I couldn't understand why he wasn't with me, he had always promised to stay by my side and protect me.

"_Don't worry Desi, I promise; I won't ever let anything hurt you." Lovi grabbed my small hand, and pulled me off of the ground, because when that big dog came out of nowhere, it scared me so much I fell._

"_Grazie, cugini." I sniffled, letting Lovi pull my four-year-old self into his arms for a hug._

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I screamed, clutching my ears, trying to shut out the damned sound of a flat lining heart monitor. I continued yelling for my cousin, wanting him to save me from whatever it was I needed saving from.

It your number one enemy, your brain is. Making me see a dangerous situation out of a perfectly harmless one, if I had calmed down and actually thought and realized where I was while thinking rationally, I probably would have just sighed and fallen back asleep after I woke up, but my brain seemed to want to put me back into the fire, the most traumatizing this I've ever been through.

_He should have been there with me._

_He promised._

_He lied._

_Lovi, please._

_Save me. _

The door to my personal hell banged open, and I released my head and looked up, and when I didn't see the person I was waiting for, I continued crying for Lovi, more urgently, now that there was a stranger walking towards me.

"Miss Vargas, please calm down!" the lady called to me in a stern voice, but I shook my head, and tried to stand up again. I was able to hold myself up while clutching the side of my bed for support, still whimpering, and I attempted to take a few steps towards the door, the way out of the place threatening me and what was keeping Lovi from me.

After a few steps, I fell, lying on the ground in a crumpled heap, I let out another cry as I felt my injuries hit the ground. The lady rushed over to me and tried to help me up, but when she leaned down to wrap her hand around my arm I slapped her across the face. Hard.

I was able to push myself so my back was up against the wall, "Stay the hell away from me."

She caressed her reddening cheek and following my instructions, backing up a few paces, the heels to her shoes making small clicks on the floor as she retreated.

I used the wall to push myself back up off the ground, and while keeping an eye on the lady staring at me intensely, I slowly made my way to the door. My hand glided across the wall, I had to keep touching it for some reason, because I couldn't bring my fingertips to pull away from it.

My nails occasionally scraped across it, making a screeching sound that hurt my stomach even more than it already was. They were long, much longer then I'd ever been able to keep them, because it made it harder for me to play guitar.

_They grew really fast. _

I stopped backing up when I felt the texture under my fingers change from the wallpaper, to the wooden door, that had close itself automatically after the lady came in and invaded my personal space. I lifted my hand a bit, and wrapped it around the cold metal doorknob.

In a flash I twisted it and bolted out of the crack in the door. I didn't have any time to think up a game plan, I only knew I had to get out of there, and if I ran around blindly, I'd eventually find an exit.

Running was hard, my legs ached and my lungs stung with each breath I took. My bare feet made small slaps against the ugly tile flooring. I flew past other rooms, some of them had the blinds on their windows up, so they could people-watch the hallway while staying in the comforts of their rooms. I glanced into each window I saw, not having enough time to take anything in before it was out of sight.

I heard my name being called from the direction of the room I had just deserted, and heard the lady telling me to stop running.

_Exit, where are you? _

I knew if I could find the exit, I could find Lovi. The second I stepped out those doors, he'd be there to catch me in his arms, ready to save me from the horrors my room had held. Because Lovi had promised he'd save me from anything.

_Then why am I here?_

The voice in my head sounded like me, but I wasn't going to doubt Lovi.

_If he said he'd protect me, what am I doing in the hospital?_

I stumbled a bit; I started falling forward but managed to catch myself and after a breath resumed my slowing run. I ignored the questions in my head, passing it off as insanity. But the voice didn't _stop_.

_I forgive him for the fire, he had to save Feli, but he shouldn't have made a promise he couldn't keep._

I was able to reach the nurses' station for my floor when I was stopped. Two rather big doctors, held my arms, while I kicked and screamed, "No! Leave me the hell alone!" I elbowed one of them in the gut, he grunted and bent over a bit, but his iron grip on my arm never lessened, but this didn't discourage me, I continued fighting.

"Let me go! Lovi! _Lovi_!" I screeched, my voice going incredibly high, other patients were starting to stick their heads out of their rooms to stick their noses into other people's business.

"Get Mr. Vargas onto the phone!" someone called over my shoulder, and a startled nurse nodded before picking up the phone.

* * *

><p><em>Lovi's P.O.V<em>

I hate living with the potato-bastards.

I really do.

We could have stayed with Toni, but no, Feliciano _insisted_ we stay with the damned Germans. Because Carmine liked Ludwig and Gilbert more than Toni. Even the fucking _monkey_ was a potato-lover.

After the fire, I couldn't contact Feli's and mine's boss, he wouldn't pick up the stupid phone, and we haven't been getting our money. How could we pay for a new apartment with no money? The answer, stupids, is that we couldn't. So the second after Feli was released from the hospital, we were homeless.

Ludwig was all, "You two may stay at our place until everything is settled. Once Desideria is released, she will join us of course."

I had protested to no end, but it was either I stayed with the potato-bastards, or I had to leave Desi and Feli there by themselves. Desi was a strong girl, but she would be in no condition to protect Feli from getting raped, which is why I had to agree to living with them.

Even if we lived together, I hated being in the same room as them. I rarely was, seeing as I left for the hospital at the crack of dawn and left when visiting hours were over every fucking day. But after I got home, Feli would beg me to watch the T.V with everyone, and I'd have to agree, so he didn't start crying.

I'd sit in the living room on the couch with Feli, and Ludwig and Gilbert would sit in the giant leather recliners on either side of the U shaped couch.

They live in a fucking mansion, just outside the city. When we first pulled up, I was stunned, I knew they were rich, but not this rich.

I complained about it to Feli, grumbling as we made our way up the stone steps after climbing out of the taxi, I hadn't slept in what felt like days, and it was making me even more irritable than usual.

After a butler opened the front door for us, I grabbed Feli's hand and marched him right up the marble grand staircase and into the first room I saw. I was expecting a guest room, or Ludwig's or Gilbert's but I wasn't expecting a room with glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling and a pile of stuffed animals on the pink and purple comforters lying across the queen sized mattress in the middle of the room.

"-The hell?" I muttered while looking around, my eyes rested on a humongous bookshelf, I let my gaze slide over the spines of the books that were stuffed into every available space, not recognizing any titles.

Feli let out an 'Aw', "This room is so cute!" Feli ran his hands along the purple beanbag in one corner with the laptop sitting on top of it, turned off of course. "It's fuzzy!" he squeaked.

"That's nice, Feli. Whose room do you think this is? Gilbert's?" I glanced at the flute lying on the dresser, "I guess not, he's too stupid to play anything other than the guitar."

"_Danke_ Lovino." Gil slithered into the room like the snake he was, and patted the wooden white bed frame, smiling. "You are not the only one's staying with us. Ludwig and I have another roommate."

"It's not Feliks, right?"

"Nein, you probably wouldn't know her."

Feliciano was right, the room was pretty cute. It looks like something I'd allow to be Desi's room, and she'd be happy about it.

"Where can we sleep?" I asked Gilbert, exhaustion washing over me once again.

"Down the hall, Ludwig put your names on the doors."

I dragged Feli out of the mystery girls room and followed the damn Germans instructions, pulling Feli into the door marked "Lovino", ignoring the ones on either side of it that read Desi's and Feli's names.

Feli and I undressed and crawled into the bed, which was like, really soft. The potato bastards sure could pick out some furniture. Not that I'd ever admit it out loud.

I let Feli cuddle up to me, something that I usually didn't allow, because we were both really tired, and we didn't want to be alone.

* * *

><p>We were all watching T.V when my phone rang. It was the only thing I had on me when the fire started, therefore the only thing that survived it besides Carmine, and I don't think he really counted. The monkey stopped pulling on my hair when I glared at him and went to pick up my phone. He clicked and me and climbed from my shoulder to Feli's and gave a sharp tug at his curl, causing Feli to jump violently and almost knock Carmine off his shoulder.<p>

Ludwig quickly helped remove Desi's monkey off Feli's shoulder, so he couldn't mess with the curl, and let him rest in his lap instead.

I flipped open the phone and spoke into it, "Lovino Vargas, what the hell do you want?" I slipped back into an old habit.

I was abruptly greeted by some high-pitched screaming and several other deeper yells. I held the phone away from my ear so I didn't damage it. Everyone in the room stared at my phone, wanting to know where the little screams were coming from.

"M-M-Mr. V-V-Vargas-s-" the stuttering voice stood out in all the noise in the background.

"Stop stuttering, woman, what?" I growled harshly into the phone, Feli tsked at me and shook his head, indicating I shouldn't speak to a lady like that.

"W-Well, um, Desideria has-" the lady's voice was drowned out by yells, someone calling out _my_ name. I should have recognized the screams right away, but for whatever reason, I didn't.

The familiar voice cried, "Lovino! _Lovi_! _You promised_!" My heart clenched.

"She's awake?" I spoke softer into the phone.

"Yes! P-please come and calm her down before she hurts anyone else!" The woman on the phone squeaked before I hung up on her.

"Desi's awake. We have to go." I grabbed the coat that I had recently bought with some money I stole from Ludwig, and threw it on, pulling Feli out of his stunned position on the couch.

"Come on, get up assholes! Desi's awake!" I snarled at Gilbert and Ludwig, who were still sitting.

"Why was she screaming?" Ludwig asked before pulling himself out of the chair and walked towards the door, followed by Gilbert, Feli and me. He pulled open the door, and some snowflakes blew into the house.

We all rushed to the parked truck Gilbert owned, but rarely ever drove. Feli and I slid into the backseat while Gil sat in the driver's and Ludwig settled as passenger's side. Gilbert cranked up the car with the keys that were already hanging limply from the ignition.

"I don't know, but she was calling for me. Something's wrong." I brushed some snow off my shoulder as Gil started speeding down the long driveway, heading for the road that would take us into the city.

The roads were pretty empty compared to how they usually were, and it felt like in no time we were at the hospital. Gilbert parked and we all speed walked into the building.

When Desi's first surgery ended, and the surgeons looked like they had gotten into a fist fight with each other, the head surgeon with the black eye and bruised arms had explained to me that Desi has an extreme case of Tomophobia, fear of surgery.

I can't comprehend why after being asleep all this time why she was screaming and fighting the doctors.

Gil knows the way to Desi's room better than I do, me having no sense of direction. We took the elevator a few floors up and went down a couple hallways, knowing we were getting closer when we started to hear the screaming.

I didn't see Desi at first, just a group of closely knit bodies all struggling in front of the nurses' station.

"_Lovi_!" A voice cried from the middle of the circle, a doctor was pushed back and I could see the distraught, tear stained, burned face of Desideria Vargas. I felt my heart break at the sight.

I walked forward and pushed some doctors out of the way, when Desi laid eyes on me she yelled at me, "Lovi! _Mi hai__promesso!__Hai promesso__! __E__tu non ci fossi_! _Bugiardo_!"

The doctors released her arms and she grabbed my shirt, pulling me to the ground with her, while she weeped into my shoulder. Her words hurt me, and I was right, something was wrong.

Desi would never say that to me, she shouldn't be crying right now, I don't understand what's going on. I held her close, and whispered in her ear, letting her know that everything was okay now, that I was here, and she was fine.

After about five minutes, her weeping stopped and she started hiccuping. I pulled both of us off the ground and picked her up. She had lost a lot of weight, and I felt like carrying her was too easy. I started walking away from the cluster of doctors, nursing their bloody noises and black eyes. Feli, Ludwig, and Gilbert followed closely behind us.

"_Let's go back to your room, okay_?" I spoke to Desi in our native language, the Italian rolled off my tongue, Desi loved it when I spoke to her in Italian, she's always said it was a beautiful language, but it was even better when it came out of my mouth.

"_Don't leave me. I don't want to get hurt again._" Desi spoke to me quietly, and the sadness and fear in her eyes shook me to the core, Feli shuddered beside me too, him being the only one who could understand our conversation.

"_I'll stay with you_." I assured her, and held her tighter in my arms.

We walked in silence, other patients gawked at us through their stalking windows. We walked back into Desi's room, being met by the unmistakable sound of a flat lining heart monitor. I set her gentally back in her bed.

"Why did you leave the room, Desi?" I asked her, while covering her with the sheets and trying to get the heart monitor to shut up.

"Not safe." She muttered. She glanced at Gilbert, who was on the other side of her bed with Feliciano and Ludwig.

She reached out and touched his face, "Oh, hi Gil." She mumbled softly.

"_Hallo, _Desi." He held her hand, which made me mad, but I didn't do anything to stop it, not wanting to upset Desi.

"Ludwig," Desi had trouble opening her eyes again, she was so tired, as anyone could tell, "is Carmine causing problems yet?"

Ludwig smiled, "_Nein_, Carmine is a little angel."

Desi smiled back at him, "That's good, I think I'll go to sleep now." She looked at me, "Stay with me, please?"

"Of course I will." I took her other hand, and suddenly I felt like I was back in the trauma room, only this time I wasn't singing and Lili isn't here. Desi squeezed my hand once before falling asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Short Chapter<br>**

**Sorry, I made Desi go crazy.**

**This is only temporary though, she'll be normal again soon enough.**

**Thanks for the OC's guys, i still need more people, and a lot more people that are more Evil then good.**

**Remember, being evil is hot!**

**_~Ayai_**

_**Thanks for the compliments guys, they make me happy :D**_


	10. Chapter 10

_Lovi's P.O.V_

"What's going on?"

Feli questioned me after he was sure Desi was sleeping. I looked at the sleeping girl we loved, the girl we needed to keep everyone alive.

I answered him truthfully, "I don't know."

_Desi's P.O.V_

My sleep was dreamless. For some who have experienced a trauma like mine, this is a blessing, but it just made me sad. It wasn't like I wanted nightmares or anything, and I knew there was no way of me actually having a _nice_ dream.

You know that like, half awake phase, where you know you can opens your eyes, or you can choose to keep them closed, and remain in the darkness, or you can open them, and be bathed in the light of morning, then wishing that you had just kept your eyes closed so you could stay asleep?

Well I kept my eyes closed, savoring the last few moments of half-sleep or whatever you want to call it. I enjoyed this time. I could understand what was going on around me, but in half consciousness. I felt like I was being watched. Which made my skin prickle with the memory of that eye.

The eye. The eye was connected to a person, so I should say the person instead of the eye. I'd been trying my hardest to keep my mind away from the man that could have killed me and my family.

Why would you set fire to my apartment, it made no sense, unless it was just completely coincidental, but I really doubt that. The gas that was on my carpet, the blocked door, and my missing phone were both signs that the arson was trying to kill me. If Feli and Lovi were able to get out, their doors weren't blocked. But why was mine the only one that was?

I was a good person for the most part; I rarely got into fights, and almost never made enemies. Why would someone want me dead? If this was just some random crazy person, he would have blocked all of our doors, not just mine. Something was going on. That eye, it made me sick to my stomach, why? I couldn't put my finger on it.

A sigh broke through my thoughts, startling me enough into opening my eyes. My eyes burned while they adjusted to the light streaming in through my windows, the sighing person had sucked in their breath when my eyes opened waiting for me to completely wake up.

My eyes darted across the room until they located a familiar teenager curled up in the recliner next to my bed. I relaxed once I knew Lovi was with me, the panic had hit me fast, I hadn't even had time to really register what I wanted before everything was okay again.

The person who's sighing woke me up made a little noise and I turned me head again so I'd be looking to their eyes.

Gil smiled at me, and took my hand, "Don't worry _liebling_, Lovino is here. He's been watching out for you all night, but I've recently just taken over his position, so you can now be positive that everything will be alright. After all, the awesome Gilbert won't let anything happen to you while I'm in charge!"

I glanced back at Lovi, "He didn't leave me, right?"

"_Nein_, he was here all night. Well, the remainder of it anyways."

"Good." I murmured softly, before turning my attention back to the personification of the ex-nation Prussia.

He smiled at me again and kissed my palm, "Happy Valentine's Day, _schön_."

I laughed at him, "Gil, Valentine's Day is in February." I slid my hand out of his and used it to lightly poke him in the cheek, not too hard because my nails were like, really long and I didn't want to draw blood.

He did the same to me, and soon we were wrapped up in a poking war. After a few minutes like this, Gil poked me in the neck, and I gasped and giggled. That's when he started tickling me.

I'm like, insanely ticklish, I burst out laughing as one of Gil's hands ran across my neck and the other across my stomach, the two places I was the most ticklish.

I was pretty much suffocating from the laughter when Gil removed his hands, knowing how hard it is to breathe while being tickled. I panted breathlessly for a second with a smile on my face. I loved how Gil could easily turn such a bad situation into a good one, i.e, being stuck in the hospital after an attempted murder turns into a fun ticklefest.

I stared at my ceiling for a second, "Gil, what are we?"

He attempted to look at me funny, but I could see the humor in his eyes, "Mammals?"

I felt a rush of déjà vu, and smiled, "No Gil, what are _we_."

Gil tapped his chin and pretended to think, his silver hair bounced lightly each time his finger touched his chin. Damn, he was _hot_. And he knew it. "We're exclusive, _liebling_. You're _meine_ girlfriend."

"That's nice to know." I laughed. "You're losing a lot of German today; care to explain what those words mean?"

The corners of Gil's mouth tugged up, "Well, one, _liebling_ mean favorite, or sweetheart, _sch__ö__n_ is beautiful, and you should be able to understand what _meine_ is."

I nestled deeper into the scratching blanket, relishing in its warmth, "_Grazie_." I giggled.

Gil's smiled widened, "It's nice to hear your laugh again."

"I haven't been out long enough for you to miss my laugh, like what, it's been two days since the dance?" I joked with him; I wasn't pleased when his smiled turned from one of happiness to one of sadness or you could even say it looked somewhat like one of pity.

He blinked, and then leaned down and I couldn't see anything but some tuff of his silver hair. After a second of what sounded like rummaging, he emerged again and placed something in my lap.

I was quite for a moment; my hand ran over the soft red velvet. I slid my nails into the crack and lifted. The sweet aroma hit me hard.

"You got me a box of chocolates?" I smiled at him, and he returned it weakly. The heart shape of the box was strange though, "Are these Valentine's Day chocolates?"

"_Ja_. Be my Valentine?" The corny line made me giggle.

"Shouldn't we worry about that closer to Valentine's Day? How did you even manage to score these chocolates at this time, it's not even New Years yet!" I popped one of the chocolates into my mouth, hoping for a good one. Valentine's Day chocolates were always a gamble, you were either going to get a really good one, or a really bad one. The milk chocolate melted on my tongue, and I was able to taste the caramel in the middle, okay so this one was safe to eat.

"_Liebling_," Gil murmured, "It's February 14th."

I froze. It couldn't be Valentine's Day. It just wasn't possible. But why would Gil lie to me? I looked him in the eye. I could detect no trance of a lie. I didn't think that Gil would lie to me, but this couldn't be true.

"What?" That was the only thing I could come up with.

"It's Valentine's Day, 2012."

It was hard to breathe, "How?"

Gil bit the inside of his lip, "They put you in a medically induced coma."

"Why?" So I've been asleep for like, a month and a half?

"Well, after your first surgery, you woke up, and then decided to go crazy apparently. You were hurting yourself and others, so you were sedated. Then you woke up again, did that exact same thing, and you were once again knocked out. This happened a few times before they decided that you weren't ever going to be able to heal if every time you woke up you started damaging your burns and stitches and staples and all that fun stuff, so they just wanted you to be asleep for the entire healing process." Gil took a breath and continued, "Lovi wasn't having it, he fought the doctors every step of the way, and only allowed them in the end because it was the only way you could get better."

This was so strange, a month and a half of my life, gone. All because of the asshole with the brown eyes. And me, because I was freaking insane.

"_Scusa_." I muttered, looking down at my hands that were still clenching the box of chocolates.

Gil sounded confused, "What?" I knew he understood me, just not what I meant.

"I'd be pretty mad if my girlfriend has been asleep most of the time we've been dating." I smiled a bit, trying to make the best out of this situation.

Gil's grin returned, "Nah, it was okay. I had a lot of fun getting into fights with the nurses about who would get to change your bandages."

My bandages. The burns. They must have left scars, if they aren't still there. I need to see them.

"Gil? Will you help me up; I don't really trust my legs." I reached my arms out to him. He nodded and pulled down the ratty blanket, I felt the cold air touch some skin on my legs, and I shivered. I looked down a bit and was able to discover that I was in an ugly hospital gown. After a small look of disgust I focused my vision back on Gil's face, my arms still outstretched.

He leaned down and scooped me up princess-style. His arms were placed perfectly in between two spots I could feel were sore without even any presume on them at all. He must have known where my burns were located and held me accordingly so he wouldn't hurt me. The delicate skin was tugged at a little, and it hurt, but not enough for me to start crying, just the, "Oh SHIT, that hurts." kinda hurt.

I directed him to the bathroom, where I knew there would be a mirror. Each step sent a shiver of pain up my spine, but it was absolutely nothing compared to what I felt right after the fire.

"This room is so ugly." I muttered, glancing around, "The curtains don't match anything." The giant curtains were red, while everything else was beige and white. Why would I need curtains? Hell if I know. Maybe all burn patients had curtains.

"_Ja_, it is." Gil chuckled a bit and flicked on the light to the dark bathroom, leaving me to stare at the mirror.

The little girl in the albino's arms had short curly brown hair, which resembled Madi's quite a bit. She was really pale and thin, she was so fragile looking that if Gil dropped her, she might break. I stared into the familiar amber eyes, trying to stop thinking like the girl wasn't me.

The burns. The ones I could see were an angry red, and others were wrapped up in bandages. The bandages disappeared under my paper gown, showing me just how big the burns were. I shivered, thinking about the marks they'd leave behind; I'd never be able to wear shorts or a skirt again. But it was the burn on my face that got me the most.

There was a long red burn crawling up the left side of my face, standing out even more because I'm so pale. I took an arm away from around Gil's neck, and touched it lightly. It stung, and I traced its outline with a finger. It stretched all the way from my hairline to my chin.

I was never a vain person, but I always knew I was pretty cute, and it pleased me a bit. I _liked_ being called cute, and sexy, and beautiful. But who would use these words to describe me with this ugly scar that was going to be on my face forever, ruining my features. I felt my eyes start to burn, and I attempted to blink back the tears that were forming rapidly, unsuccessfully.

"Liebling, don't cry." Gil wiped away my tears with his thumb, being careful to avoid my burn, "The doctors say they can fix this, and even if they can't, you are very pretty still."

"Grazie." I whispered. I started fingering the curls that framed my face, "My hair looks like Madison's."

Gil switched off the light in the bathroom and turned around to return me to my bed, "She was here after they sedated you the first time. Your hair was pretty burned, and the doctors brought out the razor, preparing to just shave you bald, but Madi stepped in and put a stop to it, 'Are y'all messed up in the heads? This girl's gone through enough of a trauma without having to wake up to bein' bald!'" Gil said in a fake southern accent.

I smiled for my new friend, I was very happy that she didn't let them shave my head, that'd make this ten times worse.

"So she took the scissors or whatever the doctors called them and cut off the burnt hair, then styled it so it didn't look like your hair went through a lawnmower, but to do that she had to cut it shorter, hoping that you wouldn't mind." Gil lightly set me back in bed. I glanced over at Lovi to check on if he was still sleeping. I watched the steady rise and fall of his chest and felt at peace.

"Where's Feli?" I asked Gil, who thought for a second.

"He fell asleep standing up last night, so Ludwig brought him home." He chuckled, "That kid is so strange."

"Home?" I asked, confusion creeping into my voice. Our home was destroyed, where was it now?

Gil smirked, "You are all staying with us, until you can land a place of your own again. Oh and I should probably warn you right now, you're all broke."

"What? How, Feli and Lovi should be getting money from their boss!" This made no sense, at _all_.

"They've been cut off."

"Why?"

"Economy's in the trash so their boss is saving money."

"_Che stronzo_." I growled, how selfish of him! I tried to not let my anger get the best of me, so I attempted to calm down. I took deep, composing breaths, like when I was doing yoga (which I rarely do anymore, it never really relaxs me.)

"How is my Carmine?" I asked him, changing the subject.

"He's okay; he gets a kick out of playing with Gilbird, though Gilbird doesn't like him too much." He smiled; he's got a pretty smile. "I think he misses you though."

I let out a sigh of relief, "It's good that he hasn't forgotten about me, it'd suck to have my monkey like you and Ludwig more than me." I paused, "Did Delanna get out?"

"Nein, Lovi was forced to leave her, Feli was very upset."

I felt a twinge in my stomach. I swallowed and sighed, "That's really sad, she was a sweetie."

Gil nodded, "Yeah, she didn't try and kill me every time I came over. Like another animal we know."

I smiled at the memory, Gil had decided to follow us home one day, only to be attacked by Carmine the second he sat down in our apartment. Carmine wasn't serious, but he was still able to pull out a chunk of Gil's hair.

"That was funny."

"No it wasn't! That was a _lot_ of hair he pulled out!"

We laughed and fell silent again. Lovi was taking forever to wake up; I needed to tell him about the person who started the fire.

"Gil?"

"_Ja_?"

"…My door was blocked, that's why I couldn't get out."

"_Ja_, I know. I spoke with the man who saved you; I gave him a sticker saying how awesome he was."

"So I shot the door."

"I know that, too."

"I saw the man who set the fire."

Gil's eyes widened, "You saw him?"

I nodded, my chest felt sort of tight, "I saw his eye. He was watching me through one of the bullet holes." I took a shaky breath, "That was the scariest thing that's ever happened in my life."

Gil leaned forward in the chair he was sitting and held me in a hug, "_Es tut mir leid, schön, ich bin so, so leid, was du durchgemacht_."

I ran my nails up and down his back softly, because my Mama doing that had always made me feel better. Gil's grip was tight, and I had a feeling I wasn't going to be realeased anytime soon. I relaxed in his arms and continued lightly scratching his back.

"It's okay Gil, thank you for caring." I kissed the side of his head lightly. His hair smells really good, kind of like….. Strawberries and cream. I giggled at Gil's choice in shampoo, and let my eyes flutter shut as I inhaled the scent.

"Your hair smells good. And girly." I murmured, pushing my face into Gil's shoulder, enjoying the warmth of his body. His grip slackened a bit, no longer crushing me to his chest, just holding me in place.

"Your hair smells girly." He countered, pleased with himself.

"How original." I spoke softly and leaned back in his arms, so I could look him in the eyes. "I've been thinking about this lately, and I try to speak my mind about pretty much everything so here it goes. I think you're like, _really_ hot."

Gil laughed, "I think I'm pretty hot, too. But so are you."

I smiled at him, the slightly depressed feeling from before almost completely gone. "I feel like we're in some altered version of a Disney movie."

The Prussian nodded, and I felt like I needed to add something to that, so I did.

"_You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess  
>It's a love story baby just say yes<em>"

I didn't really sing it; it was more of a pretty whisper. I had no idea, that in the future, this would affect me so greatly, in so many ways, in good situations, and bad ones.

Gil smirked at me, "Yes."

His arms left my back, one of them slid down to my hip and the other one cupped the back of my head. He kissed me softly, in no hurry at all. My eye's fluttered shut again and I let my fingers roam through his strawberry scented hair.

His hand did the same, but his fingers curled into my hair, holding my head in place. After a second or two, I felt his tongue slip over my bottom lip, requesting entry. I parted my lips, granting him permission, and I surprised him by playfully fighting him for dominance. I could taste the toothpaste on my tongue, and felt like laughing that someone else had to brush my teeth while I was out.

Gil chuckled a bit as I let him take control after a small fight between our tongues. I let his tongue explore my mouth, and I let out a small breathless moan as he ran it across the roof of my mouth. I continued letting him explore his newly acquired territory, and after a while we both had to pull away to replenish our air supply.

We panted for a second, both staring into each other's eyes, than we started round two. We were just getting started when Lovi decided to finally wake up.

"What the hell!" his groggy voice stalked us and we pulled away from each other quickly. He was blinking the sleep out of his eyes and glancing back and forth between us.

"Stop raping Desi, bastard!" his voice wasn't near as threatening as it would usually be, seeing as he probably thought he was dreaming or something.

I smiled at him, "_Buongiorno_. _Hai dormito__bene_?" Slipping into my primary language comforted me; it reminded me of home, and the summers in Italy. I was one of the only people in my family to bother learning English when we moved here; I had learned to speak in Italian, but Ezio had taken time out of his life to try and get me to speak in English too. He hadn't succeeded until I turned four, because our Mama and Papa only spoke Italian. So they speak little English, and Ella, Ezio, and I all speak fluently.

"_Yes, I slept fine. Now please move away from the potato-bastard, he has his rape face on._" Lovi spoke to me quickly, and I was rather surprised that he didn't try and hurt Gilbert. Pride for my cousin filled me, and I felt myself smiling widely, not caring about the sting of the burn.

"_I'm very proud of you_, _Lovi_." I said sweetly, and grabbed his hand, "_Thank you for not trying to kill Gil_." I squeezed his hand lightly and he blushed.

"_I-It's nothing.. Stop looking at me like that_!" His voice rose because of embarrassment, and I laughed and released his hand.

"English, please? I don't understand." Gil spoke up, waving his hand between Lovi and I, to do this he needed to completely lean over me. I lightly tapped his head.

"It's nothing." I smiled at him, and after a second, he smiled back. Now it was Lovi's turn to stick his hand between our heads, I blinked as Gil's face was replaced by Lovi's hand.

I laughed at him and pushed his hand down with my own. I was about to say something when a knock interrupted me.

I stared at the door silently, waiting to see who would come out of it. After a second, it slowly opened and a nurse peeked her head in, "Is this a good time?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. My stomach twisted into knots, I didn't know this person. My new found fear of strangers was suffocating, and I didn't really want her anywhere near me, Lovi, or Gil.

Gil looked up at her and smiled, "Hey Paige. What's up?"

I looked at Gil, confused as to how exactly he knew this woman.

"Hey Gil, I've got some good news- Is that chocolate?" Paige's voice changed from light and filled with joy to stern and questioning. My gaze drifted to the box of chocolates in my lap, where I let them rest during my make out session with Gil.

Gil lounged across my legs under the blanket, he placed his body perfectly so none of my burns were jostled, and held his head up in his hand, "_Nein_. You must be seeing things today Paigey, you should take better care of yourself." He lied smoothly.

"Gilbert! You know she's not supposed to have chocolate! I should take them away, and after all that convincing I had to do, I have to go back to everyone and tell them I was wrong!" She sighed and brushed some hair out of her face.

"Aw, calm down, _arzt_. She'll be fine; it's Valentine's Day after all." Gil lifted himself off my legs, and returned to the chair beside my bed, "What's the good news?"

Paige didn't answer for a moment, than shook her head, "Ugh, you can take Desi home."

We were quiet for a moment, and I was the first one to speak, "Why? Shouldn't I be here for observation and stuff?"

Gil gave a loud whoop and fist pumped, and Lovi relaxed and leaned back in his chair. I just sat patiently, waiting for an answer.

Paige motioned towards Gil, "Gil here, has been watching me and the other doctors take care of you for almost a month and a half, he knows what you need to eat, how and when to change your bandages, and I'll be giving him a schedule for your therapy." She stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out a pen, then grabbed my chart from the end of the bed. She scribbled down for a moment, while Gil, Lovi and I all shared happy expressions.

She handed the chart to Gil, "Turn this in before you leave. And Desi's not the only one you can take home today." She winked at me, and I felt a small bit of annoyance flare up inside of me, "Goodbye Gilbert, Desi, Lovi, I hope I won't see you guys again for a long time, you have all caused many problems ever since you've been here." With that, she turned around and walked out of my room.

"Yes! Now I get both of my girls out of this damn hell hole!" Gil jumped up and ran to the small closet on one side of my room, and he disappeared behind the door for a moment, and came out with a folded up wheelchair. A smile was plastered across his face, and it was infectious. I felt myself smile even if I was confused by who Gil's "other girl" was.

"Calm down potato-bastard, Desi needs to get dressed first before she can leave." Lovi spoke in a firm voice, and handed me a plastic bag. I glanced in it and looked up at Lovi questioningly. "Wear it, Desi. You have too."

My smiled disappeared and I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and prepared my body as best I could. I still felt weak, but I was going to have to get used to walking around by myself. I gingerly slid off my bed, and let out a breath when my feet touched the ground, and I held onto my bed to support my weight.

Gil and Lovi made no move to try and assist me, but both watched me carefully, waiting to leap if I started falling. I silently thanked them even if I was a little ticked with Lovino at the moment.

The first few steps were the hardest. It was easier last night, because I wasn't really controlling myself. I was incredibly wobbly, not having really moved in a month and a half. After a couple more steps, walking got easier. I was able to get past Gil and reached the door to the bathroom, which I held onto after I froze.

"Lovi.." I whimpered, not being sure if I could stand to be in a room without him.

He seemed to be able to read my mind, "Don't worry, _bella_, if you must you can leave the door open. I'll make sure he doesn't look. I'll be right here." He jerked his thumb in the direction of Gil, who huffed at him.

I sighed and walked into the bathroom, I made sure the door was left open and I flicked on the light. I untied the strings in the back of my paper gown. It fell to the ground and I quickly dressed in the shorts and the tank top Lovi insisted I wear. They both didn't bother my burns, but you had full view of all the bandages. I looked over my legs and saw that the skin that wasn't covered by bandages was hairless, and I knew I had to thank Madi later. I rubbed the soft fabric of the navy blue shorts, loving how they went perfectly with the baby blue tank.

I walked back out of the bathroom, not bothering with the light. Gil had moved the wheelchair closer to the bathroom, and I eagerly sunk down into it. My legs felt weaker and I sighed heavily.

"Why do I have to wear this?" I asked Lovi, pouting a bit. He moved to my side and put his hand on my shoulder.

"I know you well enough that you'd want to cover yourself up, to hide the bandages. You should show them though, your battle scars show just how strong you are." He smiled at me, "You shouldn't even be able to walk right now, and you sure as hell weren't supposed to wake up yet."

Gil held the handles of my wheelchair, "You forced yourself out of a medically induced coma _liebling_, that's pretty awesome." He started wheeling me out of my room, seeing as we really didn't have to pack anything up, the only thing I had were the chocolates, which Gil had placed in my lap. I opened them and ate another one. I smiled at my good luck, getting one filled with the fluffy chocolate stuff you find in Milky Ways.

"Where are we going?" I asked, after eating my chocolate. I glanced around the hall where just last night I had had a nervous breakdown.

"I'm going to introduce you to someone very special to Ludwig and I. She lives with us, and now you." Gil spoke, and he picked up his pace, almost running, going "Wheeee!"

I laughed as we sped along the hallway, my hair being blown back. I heard Lovi yell at Gil, "Bastard! Stop!"

We continued at this pace until we reached the nurses' station, where Paige was tapping away on a computer. "Gilbert! Don't you run with her!" she scolded him, and he sighed and slowed back down to a walk

"Sure thing Paigey!" he called out to her while we waited for the elevator. Lovi caught up to us and glared at Gil, I could feel the hate waves rolling off him, but he didn't blow up, and I think it was for my sake.

After a small ding, the elevator doors opened and we stepped in. Gil pressed the '4' and we felt the elevator start to descend. I started bouncing in my wheelchair just to bother Lovi, because he really hates riding in elevators.

"Stop that!"

"Sorry, can't help it. Habit, you know." I giggled, and ceased bouncing.

After a second, the elevator doors opened again and we stepped off. We were in a exact replica to the Burn Care center, but it wasn't as deserted. The chairs in the nurses' station were filled by patients, everyone was interacting with each other and two of the older patients were playing chess in the corner, while a small kid looked on and cheered whenever someone lost a piece.

"I'd much rather be stayed down here than in the stiff floor upstairs." I muttered, and Gil laughed his signature laugh. It made me smile and he pushed me down a hallway similar to the one I was in.

We stopped in front of a door that was left wide open, and I leaned forward in my chair a bit to look around. Yeah, it's exactly like my room upstairs, minus the curtains. And there was a smallish girl curled up in the recliner, with a book in her lap. Her long blonde hair was twisted into a ponytail, and she didn't even look up as we walked in, she just kept her eyes focused on the book.

Gil spoke up, "What? No hello?" His voice startled her, and she jumped a bit, and lost her page in the book. Her pretty blue eyes glanced over Gil and a smile broke out on her face.

"Gilbert!" She lept up from her chair and ran into his open arms. "I haven't seen you in forever! Well, it's been a couple days, but still!"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and I felt a twinge of jealousy. I looked at the look of happiness on Gil's face though, and decided not to say anything. After a second, she pulled away from Gil and glanced at Lovi.

"Oh, um, h-hi Lovino." She stuttered a bit, nervous about being in his presence. I would be too, Lovi is kind of intimidating at times.

"Hello." He said shortly, and put his hand on my shoulder. The girl tugged on Gil's shirt.

"Gil, who is this?" she said kind of quietly, I smiled at her shyness.

"This is the girl I told you about, Desideria. She's my girlfriend." He gestured towards me, and Lovi growled a bit. The girl angled her body so she was half hidden by Gil's arm. "Desi, this is Sydney Lane Jones. She's the little sister I've never had." He ruffled her hair affectionately, just like he did to me. I giggled at her slightly annoyed expression, knowing I probably had worn the same exact one when he did it to me.

"Ciao Sydney. It's nice to meet you." I reached out for her hand, which she placed in mine timidly.

"It's n-nice to meet you too, Desi." She gave me something that looked like a nervous attempt at a smile, so I smiled back. We shook hand and then I placed mine back in my lap, and she resumed holding onto Gil's shirt, probably unconsciously.

"Well!" Gil's loud voice made us both jump, seeing as we were both unprepared for it, "Let's get you guys out of this place!"

He slung Sydney's bag over his shoulder and Lovi grabbed my wheelchair handles to wheel me out of the room. We all followed Gil, back down the hallway.

I glanced over at Sydney, who was wringing her hands nervously, walking beside me.

"I hope we can be friends." I told her, and the nervous smile came back.

"Y-Yeah, me too."

I turned my head back to the front and started humming, pleased that I wouldn't have to be in this hospital for another ten minutes.

* * *

><p><strong>Hi guys, sorry for the kind of slow release. I've been working on my letters to Georgia thing, and kind of neglecting this story. I've finally discovered what I want to do with this story, and that when it's done, imma write a sequel, and I'm really excited about it, because it's going to be fun to write.<strong> **And after I finish the sequel, I've got another good idea, and some of your OC's will probably appear, just their ages wont be the same.**

**So yeah, thanks for sending the OC's in, it's a lot easier than having to think them up myself.**

**AND BTW, no you will not be released from the hospital only a month and a half after baking in a fire, this chapter was medically inaccurate, please don't be mad at me.**

**And I've got a question, do you think I should put some lemon in? I'm pretty sure I can do it, and if you don't like lemon I'll probably mark off the areas so you can just skip them over. So should I do the lemon and change the rating? I'm still debating and I want to know what you guys think.**

**I think that's about it, bye then. Oh, like the little bit of foreshadowing I put in there? :)  
><strong>

**~Ayai**


	11. Chapter 11

I had no idea that Gil owned a car. And I was very surprised to learn that he could drive. And even more so surprised when he showed me his driver's license.

"You actually bothered to get one?" I gaped at the plastic, checking over all the information, wondering if it was fake or real.

"West dragged me to the DMV, made me wait in line for like three hours to get the damn thing." Gil started up his truck after climbing back in. He had just had a little fight with my wheelchair, having trouble folding it back up, and it was funny to see him yell at it, and Sydney was able to do it in about two seconds. After that, he'd thrown it in the bed of the truck and glared at it.

I nestled deeper into the passenger seat, and glance back at Lovi and Sydney in the back, while Gil pulled out of the hospital parking lot.

"So Sydney," I began "Why were you at the hospital?"

Sydney started playing with a hole in her jeans, "I've got a weak body. I-I got sick."

Poor girl was so nervous. I was never really that shy, but I was always cautious. Being cautious was good, especially if you were around Russians. That Ivan kid who I'd met on my first day of school wasn't really all that bad; he just scared me the death. Along with Toris and Ravis, too. I never understood why he scared them so much; they were reduced to trembles whenever he was in the general vicinity.

I felt comfortable with Sydney, every person in the hospital made me nervous, because they could be anyone, could be anything. But my anxieties were calmed when I looked into her blue eyes, she seemed to have that effect on Lovi and Gil too, because Gil couldn't keep his eyes off her, smiling every time their eyes met. Lovi didn't fight with Gil on the whole car ride to our new home either.

I should have been jealous of Sydney, but because she looks up to Gil like he's her brother, and Gil only see's her as his little sister, I don't have to worry.

"Ah, what did you get sick with?" I inquired, trying to bring the younger girl out of her shell.

"Pneumonia." She answered, and Gil nodded.

"She scared the crap out of West and I with all that coughing." He remarked, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, cranking up the radio. The song Fireflies played from the speakers, and I hummed along.

_I'd like to make myself believe  
>That planet Earth turns slowly<br>It's hard to say that I'd rather stay  
>Awake when I'm asleep<br>'Cause everything is never as it seems  
>When I fall asleep<em>

I tried to start a conversation with Sydney again, "Sydney, do you go to HWA?"

She nodded, "Yes, I'm the personification of Wisconsin."

"So are you like, related to Fiamma Jones then?" I asked her, and she nodded again.

Fiamma's a senior at HWA, though she acts like one of the freshmen, which makes her pretty likeable. She's snuck into my homeroom a couple time's and we like to chat until she gets caught and kicked out. She personifies New Jersey, and apparently hates Jersey Shore.

Fiamma isn't the only person who likes to hide in homeroom's that aren't theirs. Her brother and sister Rune and Garret A. Jones are constantly hanging out in the back of my classroom, talking to some kids. They're both pretty loud, so I was naturally drawn to them, much to Lili's displeasure, I found myself with two new friends.

Rune personifies Washington and Garret personifies Oregon. I've never asked any of the states what heir actually relationship to Alfred would be, because it could be something strange.

Garret's a total flirt, he reminds me of Francis, but not as extreme, he knows when to stop. It's pretty funny to watch the girl's in my class blush when he says a cheesy pick up line, and Lili, Rune and I all can't help laughing about it.

Rune and Garret usually have to leave after Fiamma is kicked out, for some reason, they don't have to leave until she has to, and it makes no sense to any of us.

Fiamma pitched a fit once, "You're prejudice! You don't like me, but you love my little sister and brother, so when you make me leave, they have to leave to so no one finds out! I bet you love them so much you wonder if they're good in bed!"

Rune and Garret had to drag Fiamma out of the classroom, after repeatedly calling our teacher a "Pedophile rapist with no life", since then, Fiamma's had a harder time getting into the classroom.

"I really can't tell, you act so different from Fiamma, Rune, and Garret." I remarked, and she cracked a bit of a smile.

"Yeah, most of my brothers and sisters are kind of loud. The only ones that are sane besides me are like, Kansas, Iowa, Georgia, Virginia, and sometimes Michigan."

"I've got two siblings, a little sister and an older brother. They drive me crazy."

"Well I have 49 siblings; I'd trade you any day."

"I don't think I can live with Fiamma." I smiled at her.

"I've done it before, it's interesting." She replied, and I turned back around in my seat, because my lower back was starting to hurt.

The traffic in the city was insane, as usual. Getting out of the city would take forever. I decided to just take a nap, because my eyelids were growing heavy. I closed them and fell asleep to Gil's soft humming and tapping.

* * *

><p>I was in unfamiliar territory.<p>

Alone.

I bolted upright, the soft bed sheets falling off of me. I got a head rush and my vision blurred.

My room was dark; the curtains were pulled over the windows, and no light escaping through.

My panic level was rising, and my breathing quickened.

Being alone, in a dark unfamiliar room was not safe. What happens when you're in an unfamiliar dark room?

You die.

And my protector wasn't with me.

So I die.

"Lovi!" I called out his name. He didn't come bursting through my door.

It was everywhere. That damn eye. The brown orb was watching me, waiting for my demise. It wanted me dead. And I was terrified of it.

I curled into a ball on the bed, hyperventilating, whispering Lovi's name over, and over, waiting for him to come rescue me.

The eyes were all over the place, on the walls, on the ceiling, on the bed sheets, in my mind.

_Leave me alone._

"Lovi…" I whimpered, "You promised to stay with me this time."

_Liar._

The darkness was suffocating me, and I couldn't breathe.

I was back in the fire, just waiting to burn to death, positive that the end was near, that soon, the pain would go away. But I could feel the heat on my skin, smell the smoke, and sense the eye, still waiting for me to just die.

What did I do to deserve this? To deserve this pain, and fear? The karma must have caught up to me, or my sins.

The smoke burned my lungs, and the fire burned my skin. I waited for Lovi to come rescue me.

He was taking too long; I was going to die in this fire if he didn't save me. This eye would rejoice when I was dead, the soullessness leaving it, replaced with utter joy.

I called for him again, louder. I ducked my head into my knees and let the tears fall, staining the sheets.

My door burst open, "Desi!" Lovino's voice broke into my brain, and the fire went away, and the eye disappeared.

My lungs didn't burn, and my skin felt fine. I breathed a sigh of relief and raised my head from my knees.

"You told me you'd stay with me." I whispered to him. His hazel eyes darkened, and he walked up to the bed I was in.

"_Scusa_." He apologized, and crawled into bed with me, holding me tight in his arms. He pulled us back so we were lying on the pillows, and then softly put the bed sheets back over us.

He held me close to him, and I could see out of the open door. Feliciano and Gilbert were watching us.

Feli looked at us with a sad expression, and Gil's mirrored his. He reached across Feli and held onto the door handle, slowly pulling it shut.

I was engulfed in the darkness once again, but I was okay this time, because I had Lovi. He was holding me so close; I could only see his neck and shoulder, which was fine by me, so I snuggled close to him, enjoying his presence.

Lovi fell asleep eventually, and his soft breathing coaxed me back into closing my eyes for another rest.

* * *

><p>I woke up in Lovi's arms, with a feeling of security wrapped around me. I pulled out of his arms a bit and glanced over his dark brown hair, searching for a clock.<p>

I found one on the nightstand, the small red letters reading 6:07 AM. So we both slept through the rest of the day and the whole night.

I was surprised, I knew we both loved sleeping, but sleeping that much? I guess I was exhausted mentally, while Lovi was exhausted physically. Who knows how many night's of sleep he's missed, because of me.

I eased myself back down, and Lovi's grip around me tightened again. I smiled and absorbed the warmth radiating from his body.

Lovi was always so warm; he was the perfect match for me, who always seemed to have cold skin. Some people say that girls naturally have cold skin, and I don't understand why. Is it so we have a reason to cuddle up to guys like this?

I closed my eyes and nestled deeper into Lovi's chest, and right after I let out a content sigh, the door banged open.

I shot into an upright position immediately, only to be thrown back onto the bed by a frightened Italian.

"Hey, hey, Desi, Lovi! There's a ghost!" Feli pushed himself in between us, and woke up a very confused Lovino.

"-the hell?" Lovi grumbled the grogginess evident in his voice. He turned his back to us and tried to go back to sleep.

I reached over him to the lamp on the bedside table, where I pulled the chain, and a soft light filled the room. I was grateful it wasn't one of those harsh; blinding ones that you so commonly find that hurt your eyes.

"What is it Feli?" I asked, and poked Lovi in the back, "Lovi, you should listen to your brother."

He mumbled at me, "_Beh, non__sei__una persona di mattina__di oggi_."

I smiled at him, "I'm no morning person, and we just slept a lot, how can I still be tired after that?"

I propped myself up against the big wooden headboard and motioned for Feli to explain what was scaring him.

"There was a ghost!"

"A ghost?"

"_Si_!"

"Where was this ghost?"

"In the kitchen."

"Why?"

"It likes pasta."

I blinked at him, and sighed. "And why is this ghost a problem?"

Feli looked at me funny, "Any ghost is a problem, ve!" he looked down at his hands, "Also, I kinda think it might've – Um, kidnapped Ludwig?"

I heard Lovi's muffled voice rise from where he had shoved in face into his pillow, "Good."

"Lovino~ let's go see." I poked him in the back, and he grumbled and rolled out of the bed. He had to steady himself for a second, and held his arm's out to me.

I accidentally let a "Ve~" out while I crawled over the bed, and laughed about it. I rarely made that noise, and when I did it was completely involuntary. Lovi made them too, but very rarely. Feli was the only one out of all of us who said it regularly. He made the noises when he slept all the time.

Lovi chuckled at me, and scooped me up into his arms, carrying me bridal style. I put one arm around his neck and pointed my free hand at the door, "Onward!" I cried, giggling.

Lovi was still groggy, so he moved kind of slow, which bothered Feli.

"Ve! _Fratello_, hurry up!" Feli open the door, and ushered us through it, slamming it behind us.

"Wow, fancy hallway." I remarked, it was huge! Why would you ever need a hallway to be this big?

There were these big windows, letting the pink morning light come through. Lovi's and Feli's feet made soft patting sounds on the marble tile, creating a steady pattern. The walls were painted a deep beige-amberish color, and it complimented the tiles nicely. Every couple feet there were paintings hung up, I recognized some of the people in them, and others were just of random things. Like grassy fields, bowls of fruit (cliche), flowers, stuff like that.

Most of the paintings were of Gil and Ludwig; I saw one of them of a normal looking Gilbert and a young Ludwig, looking angry about being told to stand still for such a long time. It made me realize just how old Gil was, and now that I thought about it, it was kind of creepy that he was dating a 16 year old human.

My eyes settled on a painting of what looked like an even younger Ludwig, this time wearing a black cape and funny hat. He was holding hands with a small girl in a maid outfit, who was smiling widely, and the look-a-like Ludwig couldn't seem to take his eyes off her.

_She looks like me_. I thought, but shook it away, because it was impossible. It could have been Feli, and it was, according to what Feli just told me.

"Desi! See that painting? It's of me and Luddy, a long, long, long time ago! I didn't even know it was him until a while ago. We were in love even when we were _bambini_!"

Lovi growled, "You aren't in love, Feliciano. He has you hypnotized."

"But Lovi, I am! You love Antonio, don't you?"

"I don't love tomato-bastard, and what does he have to do with this?"

"Because, Toni says you love him just as much as I love Luddy!"

"He's crazy, don't listen to him."

I poked Lovi's ear, "Aw, Lovi. Just admit it."

He lightly slapped my hand away, "There's nothing to admit."

We started down the long marble staircase that went to the first floor. I marveled in its elegance and beauty.

"Nice staircase." I commented, and reached my hand down to feel the banister, amazed by its smoothness. "Wow."

Three dogs greeted us at the end on the stairs, and I saw Carmine on one of their backs.

Carmine was perched on the head of a large German shepherd, who was waiting quite eagerly for us to reach the bottom steps. Carmine obviously didn't like his twitching in place, so he clenched his little fists and brought them down on the dogs head, not doing much damage.

Lovi praised him, "Good Carmine, kill Blackie."

We stepped of the stairs and the dogs surrounded us, I reached down to scratch Blackie behind the ears, and Carmine quickly climbed up my arm, and hoped onto my shoulder, rubbing his head into my cheeks. I giggled and ran my hand down his back, which he loves being pet so when I tried to remove my hand, he grabbed it and put it back.

I glanced at the remaining two dogs, still fighting for our attention, a Doberman and a Golden Retriever.

"What are the doggies' names?" I asked Feli, who answered with ease.

"The Shepherd is Blackie, the Doberman is Berlitz and the Retriever is Aster." He reached down and hugged Aster, "I never knew how much fun dogs could be until we started living here!" Aster rewarded him with a lick on the face, and Feli let out a squeak and wiped off his cheek with his sleeve. "Ewww."

"Come on, ignore the stupid dogs and let's go take a look at this ghost." Lovi grumbled, and we heard some footsteps behind us, I spun my head around and saw that it was just Sydney.

"Oh, hey Sydney, why are you up so early?" I asked her and she glanced down at the phone in her hand.

"Um, I just got a text from Gilbert saying that he was kidnapped by a ghost." She frowned at it and flipped it open, rereading the message.

Her hair was flowing freely, and it reached her elbows. I was jealous, I missed _my_ long hair. My neck was _freezing_! I was glad it covered most of my neck though, I don't understand how girls can survive cutting their hair like a guy, their ears must be miserable.

"Gil would never be kidnapped by a ghost, let's go see what's going on. To the kitchen." I squirmed in Lovi's arms, trying to get him moving. He obliged, and the dogs all focused their attention onto Sydney.

She adjusted her sweatpants, which were beginning to fall down, and redid the knot on the drawstrings. Sydney pushed herself out of the circle of dogs and followed us through the house.

I got a glimpse of the living room before my line of sight was interrupted by the wall of the hallway we were going down, this one had no paintings, and it was kind of boring.

We pushed through a swinging door and into the kitchen, we were greeted by a loud noise, and I automatically screamed and started shivering, pulled myself closer to Lovi, and burying my head into his shoulder. Sydney had shrieked also, but I could hear her light giggle now.

So, I guess that I've been suffering from paranoia lately, and all dark room and the screams didn't really do anything to prevent me from freaking out.

Someone turned on a light; I heard the click and the blackness from behind my eyelids turned a dark reddish color.

"Desi, it's okay." Feli cooed into my ear. I relaxed a bit, but didn't raise my head.

A pair of hands lightly pulled me out of Lovi's arms, I yelped as my world of darkness was removed and I opened my eyes to see a very angry Lovi.

I squirmed in my captors arms to identify them, relaxing when I discovered it was Gil.

"Calm down _liebling_, it's just awesome me. And these other people." He gestured to the others in the kitchen, crowing around a marble island in the middle of the room, and leaning on the stainless steel appliances.

There were a lot of people. I recognized my friends, but there were also faces I didn't register with. A tall blonde haired blue-eyed man glared down at Sydney, and I was surprised she didn't flinch away from his gaze.

"Berwald!" she cried out, louder than I've ever seen her, and she hugged the scary looking man, who's expression softened the slightest bit, but still looked incredibly intimidating.

"H'llo Sydney, c'ngratulati'ns on being r'leased from the h'spital." He patted her head, in what I figured to be a loving gesture.

Sydney thanked him and was greeted by America, Lili came out from behind an annoyed Vash and walked up to me.

"Hi, Desi." She smiled at me, and I returned it.

"Hey Lili. Sorry about the lack of contact lately." I apologized and Lili's smile dropped.

"I was really worried, you don't get yourself in the hospital often do you?" she questioned, and I shook my head.

"Not really, this was the only big thing that's happened besides a car crash awhile back." I winced as Carmine tugged on a strand of my hair, demanding my attention. "Why is everyone here?" I asked her, and she glanced over her shoulder before replying.

"Surprise party!"

I blinked at her, "For what?"

"You and Sydney just got out of the hospital; I guess you could say it's a 'Welcome Home' party. We missed you." Her smile returned, smaller than before, more hesitant.

"I've only known you guys for two weeks, and you already missed me?"

"Well, we've known you for almost like, three months or something." Lili paused, "I almost sounded a bit like Feliks there. I've been hanging around him to much."

I laughed at her and made Gil set me into my wheelchair that Feli had gone and retrieved from the foyer. This gave me free reign to go talk to everyone who came.

Alfred apparently is very close to Sydney, and so was Berwald (who actually was really scary, it wasn't just his looks. He terrified me when we had a little conversation, but his friend Tino is real sweet!). After Alfred left Sydney with Berwald and Tino, he came over to me, Lili, Madi, and Feliks to play with my wheelchair.

We had vacated the kitchen shortly after arriving and went into the living room, and Madi had given me support when I moved from my wheelchair to the couch. My legs were real sore, I'm guessing its cause they weren't fully healed when I had my little race down the hallways of the hospital, I shouldn't have even been moving at that time. I blame the adrenaline.

We watched Alfred pop wheelies and try and run Arthur over, eventually ending with him getting banned from the wheelchair by the Brit. Arthur put him in 'Time-out' and made him stand in the corner, which was hilarious.

"Thanks for not letting the doctors shave me, Madi. That would have been terrible." I turned to my southern friend, and she shrugged.

"Yeah, I figured that bein' bald would really upset you. I swear, those doctors are insane. Like your new haircut?"

"It takes some getting used to, but I guess it looks good."

It did, my curls went from graceful to wild and bouncy. I'd have to figure out a new way to style it, but I like it. I still prefer my old hair, but this will have to do until I can get extensions or grow it out. I feel like I look less like Feliciano now, and it's kind of sad that at a first glance people won't think that were twins, what with the red mark on one side of my face.

Gil swears we can get it fixed soon, but it will probably never be the same, which is kind of sad.

In addition to being Tomophobic, I also happen to be Neophobic, which is the fear of change. I have no idea what's going to happen in the future, and it terrifies me. I'm scared of life after high school, when I'll be living on my own. My dependence on my parents is supposed to cease, and I'm expected to get a job, pay my bills, and be a responsible adult. The second I graduate, all my ignorance about adult life will have to disperse, and I'll have to change.

It's upsetting. I don't want anything to change. I want to stay here with all of my friends and cousins. No one ever getting sick, or hurt, or dying. No one moving away, fighting, or breaking up. I just want us to stay like this, happy, and ignorant of the world around us.

Madi's phone made me jump, it was resting on the leather between us, and when it started vibrating it sent the vibrations through the couch, startling me.

"Ah, it's Georgia. I gotta take this. Be right back, y'all." Madi scooped up her phone and walked out of the room.

"What Georgia's real name?" I asked Lili, assuming she'd know. "Or is her name Georgia?"

"No, Madi just calls her that because most of the states do. Her real name is Belle."

"I see."

Gilbert appeared out of thin air and plopped into Madi's vacated spot on the couch. He let out a sigh and put his head on my shoulder.

"What's wrong, Gil?" I asked, poking him in the face. He puffed out his cheeks in response.

"Didn't get much sleep." He lifted his head from my shoulder, cracked his neck, and put it back. "Morning parties are a bitch."

"Yeah, it's kind of early. I'm sleepy, too." I replied, my eyes trained on Alfred, who was getting chewed out by Arthur once again. Who knows what he did this time. Poor Alfred, Arthur never gives him any breathing room.

"How can you say that? You slept so much." Gil yawned.

"Don't know. _Accidenti_, that looked like it hurt."

Arthur had smacked Alfred upside the head, and Alfred somehow ended up falling and hitting his head on the ground. _That's_ why he was getting scolded. He was obviously drunk now. How I didn't see it before, I don't know.

Alfred seemed to drink a lot; I'm kind of worried about him now.

"Does Alfred drink often?" I asked Gil, who nodded.

"Yeah, it's got something to do with his economy. Arthur's been trying to get him to quit, with obviously no anvil."

I glanced over at Lovi, who Alfred had ditched Arthur to talk to. Lovi was sitting in one of the recliners and glaring at pretty much everyone, and especially Alfred.

"Dude, what caused the fire in the first place?" Alfred questioned, slurring on the word 'place' a bit. Lovi's gaze met mine for a second, and then he turned his head to Feli, who was sitting next to him. After a small nod, he turned back to Alfred and answered.

"Feliciano left the damn coffeepot on, and it burned down the damn apartment building." Lovi crossed his arms and glared at Feli, who shrugged.

My stomach clenched, and I shared a look with Gil, who had lifted his head my shoulder once again when Lovi started speaking. My confusion and suspicion was mirrored in his eyes.

Lovino was lying.

But it was true. Feli did leave the coffeepot on. I know this because I was the one who unplugged it before going to bed.

Lovi was no liar. He might be mean, but he never lies. The only thing I've ever heard him be untruthful about was his feelings for Antonio, but that really doesn't count.

Lovi couldn't just be mistaken either. He had to have smelled the gas filling the apartment, the stench was so strong, and it couldn't be ignored.

That person, too. But Lovino might have not known about the person, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe that this was a fire started from a coffeepot. Why was he lying? It made no sense.

Unless he knew something.

He would only be lying if he thought it'd protect someone. That someone being either me or Feli. And because of the look they shared before Lovi's reply, I'm guessing that someone was not Feli, and it was most likely me.

Gil's scarlet eyes darted from me to Lovi, then back to my amber eyes, it was like I could read his mind.

_We have to have a talk about this_.

* * *

><p><strong>So, I feel like its been a long time since I've updated this. But it's probably only been like, a week. <strong>

**This is a shortish chapter kind of, not the shortest but not as long as I'd want it to be.**

**So were finally about to actually get into the plot of the story. Thank god.**

**I can't wait to write the sequel for this, but I refuse to even start it until after I finish.**

**I'd like to finish before this summer, which is possible. Maybe. I don't really know how long I want to make this story.**

**Maybe like, 20, 25 chapters?**

**Sorry that I haven't really been updating anything lately (again, I actually have no idea whens the last time I did.). Family drama, ya know.**

**And school drama. And convention drama.**

**MomoCon's in a month, I'm so excited. But I'm sad that me and my friend can't go to AWA this year, sosad.** **And I got my cosplay the other day, it wasn't supposed to be here for like, another two weeks. China get's stuff done _fast_.**

**Imma shut up now.**

**WAIT. I've started a Unit thing that i'm working on, sortof. Not really. You know the Lolidictator Manuel things? Yeah those. I'm working on the first chapter, no idea if I'll ever actually finish / publish it or anything. We'll have to see.**

_**~Ayai**_


	12. Chapter 12

After Madi got off the phone with Belle, she whisked Lili and I away to do my hair and makeup and stuff, because I looked like I had just gotten out of bed (which I did). Lovi followed behind us grudgingly, knowing he'd have to anyways, but wishing he could have stayed downstairs with everyone else, and not have to listen to Madi. I had absolutely no idea where my room was, only that it was on the second floor, so it took us a good five minutes of wandering to find the door marked with my name. Moving around without my wheelchair was hard, but doable.

"Aha! You can't hide from me!" Madi exclaimed and she pushed open the wooden door.

I never really got a good look at my room last night and this morning. Which was understandable, seeing as I was having a panic attack the first time and the second time it was pitch black and before I had time to adjust Feliciano burst into the room babbling about ghosts.

The walls were painted a soft purple, and complimented the lilac bedspread of my queen sized bed nicely. To the right side of my bed there was a white desk with a vase of daisies, and next to it was a big dresser with a radio sitting soundlessly on top.

It wasn't as big as my room I the old apartment, but it was big enough for me.

"After this party thing ends, we have to go shoppin'." Madi declared, after rummaging around in the empty dresser drawers. She sat me down on the bed and pulled a comb out of nowhere and got to work on my hair, and gave Lili the responsibility of doing my makeup. Lovi climbed on my bed and buried his face in a pillow.

"I can do it myself." I protested, but Madi wasn't going to let me. So Lili got to work, apologizing because she wasn't as good as Madi and I.

Madi finished my hair in five minutes, and Lili had set down the mascara wand about four seconds later. We walked back out of my room to locate the nearest bathroom so I could brush my teeth. We found it across the hall, next to Sydney's room.

"Nice." Madi commented as she inspected the large bathtub. I leaned against the marble counter, trying to take some of my weight off my legs. Lovi watched me carefully from the doorway, paying close attention to me for some unknown reason. Lili perched herself on the counter beside me, and handed me a toothbrush and pointed to a tube of toothpaste beside the sink.

I let my mind drift back to the situation at hand. I had absolutely no idea how I was going to confront Lovi later. And I was really worried about as to why he lied to Alfred. I know he isn't fond of him or anything, but he still wouldn't lie.

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, he was still scowling, seeing him like this made me want to pinch his cheeks, but I had to resist it.

I couldn't just bring it up now and be like, "So yeah Lovi, why'd you lie? _What are you hiding, hm_?"

Could I?

No, of course not. That's way too easy.

Whatever Lovi was hiding, it had to be big. Because my life has been real dramatic lately. What with the amnesia from the car crash, the fire, and my newest accusation, separation anxiety. Last year was not a good year if you ask me.

Well, might as well try and see how far Lovi will go.

"Lovi?" I took on my best little girl voice, hoping to deter him from any thoughts of attempting to be anything but truthful to me.

"Yeah?" He grumbled, his face was scrunched up like he had a headache, but I knew that we was just contemplating something.

"How did the fire start?" I let my voice trail off, and turned my attention back to the spotless mirror, examining it for any flaws whatsoever. Lovi was quiet for a moment, and he shrugged when he answered.

"Feliciano didn't turn of the coffeepot and it caught fire. He's such an idiot." He shook his head in mock disbelief.

I sighed and walked back out of the bathroom with everyone following me closely. I was still kind of shaky on my feet, and I was only able to run in the hospital when I woke up because of the adrenaline coursing through my veins, and it was noticeably harder now that I had none.

Lovi was scaring me. I just want him to tell me the truth, and not lie. If he's lying, it's something bad. That affects me.

I glanced up and down the large hallway, "Where are the damned stairs?" I muttered, mostly to myself, but Madi answered my question with ease.

"Right, Desi. How are you going to get around here if you don't know where you're going?"

"I'll figure it out soon."

I contemplated taking Lovi's hand for support, but passed up on it and grabbed Lili's instead. She was able to understand that there was a lot going on in my mind, so she gave my hand a small reassuring squeeze.

I squeezed back as she led us back to the first floor, where we found that Arthur had started yelling at a pouting Alfred again.

The American's brother was sitting next to Francis in the place where we had been before going upstairs on the couch. I was mildly surprised, I had no idea Matthew was even here. I guess I just wasn't looking hard enough.

Francis was rather touchy feely with him, and was resting his hand on the younger boy's leg, and whispering something into his ear, causing the Canadian is blush madly.

I chuckled at them and decided to sit on Gilbert, who looked like he was asleep at the end of the couch.

I plopped myself down into his lap, causing him to jump a bit, and blink around, trying to comprehend why all these people where in his house. A second later, he spoke to me, "Oh, hallo, _liebling_. Nice weather we're having."

I glanced out one of the gigantic windows, "It's starting to rain." I pointed out. A small monkey attached itself to my arm, having appeared out of nowhere, and was obviously displeased at having so many people in his territory. I scratched Carmine's back and leaned against Gilbert, noting just how much bigger he was than me.

"Rain is good." He commented, and started to play with some of my curls.

Lovi glared at him from the corner he was standing in with Feli babbling happily beside him to Ludwig, who looked like he wasn't really pleased about the mess that was being created throughout his house. I could feel Gil turn his head and watch Lovino for a second, too, and he turned away and leaned his head on mine.

"We'll talk to him later?" I murmured into Gil's ear, and he nodded silently, looking slightly confused.

Alfred broke away from Arthur, and walked into the middle of the big room, that was filling with people steadily, everyone feeling the need to gravitate to the room filled with people.

"Okay guys, let's do karaoke. This is boring." He spoke to all of us, and pointed to me, "Desi can go first."

I blinked at him, "I don't know what to sing." I informed him, but he just waved it off.

"Figure it out. Gil, go get your guitar, man."

Gilbert sighed and lifted me from his lap, and I winced a bit when I felt my sensitive skin being tugged at. He quickly set me down where he had gotten up from, and walked out of the room, heading for the stairs.

I started to scan through the mental library of songs I had. I stared down at my callused fingertips while I searched through and eliminated, and was just deciding on a song when Gilbert reappeared with his guitar in hand.

He wordlessly handed it and the pick over to me, "I'm assuming you can play whatever you're about to sing on the guitar _madchen_."

I smiled up at him and positioned the guitar on my lap, relishing in the familiar feel of it. I held the pick tightly, and took a few breaths before starting.

"_If I die young, bury me in satin  
>Lay me down on a, bed of roses<br>Sink me in the river, at dawn  
>Send me away with the words of a love song<em>

_Uh oh, uh oh_

_Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother_  
><em>She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh well<em>  
><em>Life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no<em>  
><em>Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby<em>

_The sharp knife of a short life, well_  
><em>I've had just enough time<em>

_If I die young, bury me in satin_  
><em>Lay me down on a bed of roses<em>  
><em>Sink me in the river at dawn<em>  
><em>Send me away with the words of a love song<em>

_The sharp knife of a short life, well_  
><em>I've had just enough time<em>

_And I'll be wearing white, when I come into your kingdom_  
><em>I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger,<em>  
><em>I've never known the lovin' of a man<em>  
><em>But it sure felt nice when he was holdin' my hand,<em>  
><em>There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever,<em>  
><em>Who would have thought forever could be severed by<em>

_The sharp knife of a short life, well,_  
><em>I've had just enough time<em>

_So put on your best boys and I'll wear my pearls_  
><em>What I never did is done<em>

_A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar_  
><em>They're worth so much more after I'm a goner<em>  
><em>And maybe then you'll hear the words I been singin'<em>  
><em>Funny when you're dead how people start listenin'<em>

_If I die young, bury me in satin_  
><em>Lay me down on a bed of roses<em>  
><em>Sink me in the river at dawn<em>  
><em>Send me away with the words of a love song<em>

_Uh oh (uh, oh)_  
><em>The ballad of a dove (oh, uh)<em>  
><em>Go with peace and love<em>  
><em>Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket<em>  
><em>Save 'em for a time when you're really gonna need 'em, oh<em>

_The sharp knife of a short life, well_  
><em>I've had just enough time<em>

_So put on your best boys and I'll wear my pearls_."

This song made me sad, for obvious reasons.

Everyone clapped for me when I finished, and I took small bows from my position on the couch, and I handed the guitar back to Gil, and announced it was his turn.

Feliciano was able to materialize a karaoke machine from nowhere; through he claimed he found it in the attic. Gilbert set down the guitar gently, propping it up on my couch, and took the microphone.

He hummed gleefully as he messed around with the machine, before removing his IPod from his pocket and plugging it into a wire, then pressed some buttons and let out a satisfied, "A-ha! Take that!"

While waiting for the song to start, he pointed to Alfred, "You're going next, blondie."

"_No time for goodbye he said  
>As he faded away<br>Don't put your life in someone's hands  
>They're bound to steal it away<br>Don't hide your mistakes  
>'Cause they'll find you, burn you<br>Then he said_

_If you want to get out alive_  
><em>Whoa-oh, run for your life<em>  
><em>If you want to get out alive<em>  
><em>Whoa-oh, run for your life<em>

_This is my last time she said_  
><em>As she faded away<em>  
><em>It's hard to imagine<em>  
><em>But one day you'll end up like me<em>  
><em>Then she said<em>

_If you want to get out alive_  
><em>Whoa-oh, run for your life<em>  
><em>If you want to get out alive<em>  
><em>Whoa-oh, run for your life<em>  
><em>If you want to get out alive (If you want to get out alive)<em>  
><em>Whoa-oh, run for your life (Life)<em>  
><em>If you want to get out alive (If you want to get out alive)<em>  
><em>Whoa-oh, run for your life<em>

_If I stay it won't be long_  
><em>'Til I'm burning on the inside<em>  
><em>If I go I can only hope<em>  
><em>That I make it to the other side<em>  
><em>If you want to get out alive<em>  
><em>Whoa-oh, run for your life<em>  
><em>If you want to get out alive<em>  
><em>Whoa-oh, run for...<em>

_If you want to get out alive (If you want to get out alive)_  
><em>Whoa-oh, run for your life<em>  
><em>If you want to get out alive (If you want to get out alive)<em>  
><em>Whoa-oh, run for...<em>

_If I stay, it won't be long_  
><em>'Til I'm burning on the inside<em>  
><em>If I go I can only hope<em>  
><em>That I make it to the other side<em>  
><em>If I stay, it won't be long<em>  
><em>'Til I'm burning on the inside<em>  
><em>If I go, and if I go<em>

_Burning on the inside_  
><em>Burning on the inside<em>  
><em>Burning on the inside.<em>"

We clapped for him, and I felt a smile on my face. I had always loved Three Days Grace, but I found it was near impossible for me to sing their songs. I jumped around song genres, and I had favorites in about everyone.

Alfred took the microphone from Gil's hands, and from somewhere in the room, a Briton muttered, "Oh bloody hell, here we go."

After playing with the song list on the machine, he straightened himself out, and shot a grin at Arthur.

"_Now red solo cup is the best receptacle  
>From barbecues, tailgates, fairs and festivals<br>And you sir do not have a pair of testicles  
>If you prefer drinkin' from glass<em>

_Hey red solo cup is cheap and disposable_  
><em>In fourteen years they are decomposable<em>  
><em>And unlike my home they are not foreclosable<em>  
><em>Freddie Mac can kiss my ass, woo!<em>

_Red solo cup, I fill you up_  
><em>Let's have a party, let's have a party<em>  
><em>I love you red solo cup, I lift you up,<em>  
><em>Proceed to party, proceed to party<em>

_Now I really love how you're easy to stack_  
><em>But I really hate how you're easy to crack<em>  
><em>Cause when beer runs down, in front of my back<em>  
><em>Well, that, my friends, is quite yucky<em>

_But I have to admit that the ladies get smitten_  
><em>Admirin' at how sharply my first name is written<em>  
><em>On you with a Sharpie when I get to hittin'<em>  
><em>On them, to help me get lucky<em>

_Red solo cup, I fill you up_  
><em>Let's have a party, let's have a party<em>  
><em>I love you red solo cup, I lift you up,<em>  
><em>Proceed to party, proceed to party<em>

_Now I've seen you in blue and I've seen you in yellow_  
><em>But only you red will do for this fellow<em>  
><em>Cause you are the Abbott into my Costello<em>  
><em>And you are the Fruit to my Loom<em>

_Red solo cup, you're more than just plastic_  
><em>More than amazing, you're more than fantastic<em>  
><em>And believe me that I'm not the least bit sarcastic<em>  
><em>When I look at you and say:<em>  
><em>'Red solo cup, you're not just a cup (No, no, God no)<em>  
><em>You're my friend, yea (Lifelong)<em>  
><em>Thank you for being my friend'<em>

_Red solo cup, I fill you up_  
><em>Let's have a party, let's have a party<em>  
><em>I love you red solo cup, I lift you up,<em>  
><em>Proceed to party, proceed to party.<em>

_Red solo cup, I fill you up  
>Let's have a party, let's have a party<br>I love you red solo cup, I lift you up,  
>Proceed to party, proceed to party.<em>"

He finished up the song by vomiting in the potted plant next to him and passing out afterwards.

I looked at Gilbert, "Just how smashed is he?"

"It could be worse." He pointed and, and I silently agreed with him.

* * *

><p>It was only another 30 minutes after Madi, Lili, Feli, Lovi, Gilbert, and I left to go shopping for clothes.<p>

We spent a good five hours roaming around the city, going to various stores, and just window shopping. Normally, five hours of shopping would tire me out, but seeing as I was in a wheelchair and wasn't exerting myself in anyway, I was good to go.

Lovi wasn't having fun; he was never a big fan of shopping. Especially for clothes, and he absolutely _loathed_ having to wait for us outside Victoria Secret. Gil had provided me with his credit card, though I suspected it was his brothers, but Gil assured me it was his, filled with money from his job.

Turns out Gil's a male model. Yeah, I was pretty surprised; you'd think I'd remember seeing a giant poster of my albino boyfriend in Time Square, but I obviously didn't which is why I was even more shocked when he showed it to me.

When we exited to lingerie store—we being Madi, Lili and I—I wasn't surprised to hear Lovi muttering to himself in his primary language, too quiet for me to catch, but he didn't sound too pleased.

We arrived back home with our arms loaded with bags, in my case, they were resting on my lap, and Madi, Lili, and I spent another hour organizing everything in my drawers and closet, while Lovi took a siesta on my bed, occasionally making small "Ve" sounds while sleeping.

He was positive that he never made them, and Feli and I had never gotten around to actually telling him that he did, and if we did, I figured he'd be pretty upset, or accuse us of lying to him.

I felt a lot better with clothes to my name, and Carmine seemed to enjoy them too, because he wouldn't stop ripping them from the drawers right after we had just folded them.

Monkeys are a handful, I tell you.

* * *

><p>It was late when everyone had gone home.<p>

We were all sitting in the kitchen when Gil and I confronted Lovino.

I had decided that stealthily trying to get him to bring up the subject of his untruthfulness wasn't going to work, and it would waste too much of my time to try, so I decided to get right to the point.

"Why are you lying?" I came outright and demanded to know.

I was sitting on the marble counter top with Gil leaning on it next to me, and we both faced Lovi and Feli who were watching us from across the island. Ludwig was doing the dishes next to us, but stopped when he heard me.

Lovi gave me a fake confused look, "What?"

I sighed, "Lovi, I love you to death, but you need to tell me the damn truth. How did the fire start?" My one-handed grip on the counter tightened slightly, and Gilbert ran his thumb over my knuckles, noticing me tense up. My hand relaxed slightly in his, but my other one stayed rigid.

"Coffeepot." He mumbled, looking over at Feli. Who nodded. The nod was so small, most people wouldn't have even noticed it, but I wasn't most people, and my eyesight was great.

"Stop that. Don't look at Feliciano. We all know that it wasn't a coffeepot. I turned it off before going to bed." I could feel my patience wearing thin, I wasn't a very patient person to begin with, but I started feeling unwell after everyone started to disperse.

"Dammit Desi, what do you want to know? What can I say? It was the fucking coffeepot!" Lovi's voice rose, short tempers ran through the family.

Feliciano whimpered a bit, "Lovi…"

"I want to know the truth! You fucking know what's going on, and you're fucking hiding it!" I raised my voice an octave. Normally, I wouldn't speak to anyone like this, but when angered, my personality became much more like Lovino's than Feliciano's.

Gil didn't say anything, but his grip on my hand tightened. He knew he had better not get involved. Lovi started yelling at me in Italian.

"_I don't know what you're talking about_!"

"_Like hell you don't, just tell me the truth_!"

"_You can't handle the truth_!"

"_Are you aware of how cliché that sounded_?"

"_Why can't you just be ignorant, we're trying to protect you_!"

"_I don't need protection_!"

Feliciano grabbed Lovi's sleeve before he could scream back at me, "_Lovi, just tell her_."

He glared at him, "_Bringing her here was you're idea Feli, and so was not telling her in the first place!_"

The German brothers watched with wide eyes as Lovi switched targets from me to Feli. Feli surprised me by not cringing back from the venom in his older brother's voice.

"_Telling her now is smart, she already knows_."

"_What the hell? I thought it wasn't safe_!"

"_She's suspicious now brother! It hasn't been safe for her for a long time, but now that she knows something's up she's in even more danger_!"

My temper got the better of me again, "_I'm still here dammit_!"

The red started to slowly disappear from Lovino's face while he composed himself.

"You want to know? Fine. Don't freak out." He told me, returning to speaking in English.

I nodded at him and motioned for him to continue.

"We're all being targeted." Lovi stated, not holding back anything, just making it short, sweet, and to the point.

"Excuse me?" I said, not being able to comprehend what he said, "Who's we?"

Lovi motioned to him, Feli, Gil, and Ludwig. "Us, the personifications of nations."

Ludwig inhaled sharply, obviously not being aware of this, and Gil's eyes widened to twice their normal size.

"—The hell?" Ludwig spoke surprisingly soft, "What do you mean by 'targeted'?

Lovi glared at him, "You know, people are trying to kill us."

Gil questioned him, "Why?"

"Because, we aren't supposed to be here, they think we're 'unnatural' and 'demons'." Lovi huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, giving Feli and look.

"Whose they?" I spoke up after a second.

Feli answered, "Some people that call themselves _Cacciatori __Immortali_."

"Immortal Hunters?" I translated, confused. Why these people chose an Italian name was beyond me. Also, I didn't understand why they were trying to kill personifications, just because they lived forever? How messed up was that? And what about the consequences that come from murdering a country?

"What happens when a personification dies?" I questioned hesitantly, and Feliciano looked at his feet.

"The country gets destroyed." Lovi said, looking pissed.

I gulped, "Isn't there anyway to prevent that?" These guys were idiots, they'd be killing millions of people if they killed a personification.

"No." Gil spoke up, "Once you're gone, the country is left without a personification, therefore it gets destroyed." I didn't question as to why he was still here, even after his nation had dissolved.

"Can't you just like, get a new personification before the country gets destroyed?"

"_Nein_, it takes 100 years to create a new personification." Ludwig said, running a hand through his now messed up blonde locks.

I glanced back and forth between everyone, "Well, can't you make like, a substitute personification? Italy has two, can't everyone else? So if the personification dies, the country will stay okay because it has another representative."

"I still represent the South half of Italy, if I die, that half gets destroyed, but Feliciano's half will be fine." Lovi said, shaking his head slightly.

"One country has a substitute. " Feli said softly, playing with his hands. I glanced at him.

"What country?" I questioned, and he bit his lip.

"Italy."

I leaned back on the counter, and Gil and Ludwig inhaled once again. Lovi scowled at the floor.

"Who is the substitute?" I questioned, though I was sure I already had my answer. It all made sense now.

Lovino snapped his gaze up from the floor.

"You."

* * *

><p><strong>Kind of cliffhanger there. Well, I guess it isn't kind of a cliffhanger, it is.<strong>

**I want to wrap this story up in 30 chapters, though with my luck I probably won't be able, too.**

_**~Ayai**_


	13. Chapter 13

Everything clicked into place.

Why Feli had wanted me to enroll in his school so bad. So he and Lovi could protect me better.

Why I had no windows in my room at the apartment. Because I could very easily get shot from one of them.

Why Feli and Lovi had stuck to me like glue whenever we went out in public. Because people were trying to kill me.

Why my door was stuck when the fire started. So I couldn't escape.

Why my cell phone was gone. So I couldn't let anyone know I was still in there.

Why the person with the brown eyes was watching me. To be positive I was in my room before leaving.

Why I didn't die. Because nations are hard to kill.

Why I healed so fast. Because nations heal faster than humans.

What does this mean? Being a personification of a nation, what does it entail?

"Why me?" I questioned softly, suddenly feeling very tired, "Why not someone else?"

Feliciano looked at me, obviously displeased because of the seriousness of the situation. Gil was popping some Advil and Ludwig was staring at the soapy water in the sink, his arms no longer moving.

"You were born that way." Feli said, shrugging.

"I thought nations just appeared. Like, popped out of nowhere. Why do you and Lovi have parents? Why do _I_ have parents?" I took the Advil bottle from Gil's hand and swallowed two of the little pills dry, hoping they'd stop my fast approaching migraine. "Start from the beginning. Explain everything."

Lovi took a breath, "After the unification of North and South Italy, we knew we would probably need a personification for Italy as a whole, so that if anything happened to us, Italy would be okay."

"So we decided to create you." Feli put in, and I stared at him.

"Create me? You sound like I was some kind of lab experiment."

"Ve… You kind of were."

"_Cosa?"_

"Don't freak out!"

"How can I not freak out?"

"Shut up Feliciano. I'll explain. Seeing as Italy already had personifications, a new one wasn't just going to materialize out of nowhere, so we had our scientists take some of our DNA, mess around with it, and we eventually had to give up our current bodies and be reborn so we could make you." Lovi said in one huff of air. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the counters.

"So, I don't have parents. Ezio and Gabriella aren't my brother and sister? And you guys aren't my cousins?" I questioned, trying to comprehend the new situation I was thrown into.

Feliciano scrunched up his face, "Well, your Mama did give birth to you, but seeing as you don't have any of her and your Papa's DNA… No? So that's a no with Ella and Ezio, too."

"I guess you could say we're more like your brothers than cousins." Lovi pointed out. "Seeing as we are all Italy that is."

So I didn't have any biological parents. Nor did I have two siblings. I had countries as my family.

Poor Ella, if she knew I wasn't her sister, she would just be heartbroken. And what about my parents? Did they even know I wasn't their kid?

"Does my Mama know?" I asked, and took Gil's hand again. He squeezed it and ran his fingers over my knuckles, attempting to comfort me.

"No, only the people in this room and our boss knows." Lovi shook his head. "Speaking of your parents, your family's coming down next week to see how you're doing."

I blinked, and my stomach curled into knots. I wasn't sure I could face them so soon after learning that I had no relation to them whatsoever. And why weren't they here right now? I was in a fire, almost died, and they didn't come and see me. I bet Lovi had forgotten to tell them.

"So… The fire… Who were they aiming to kill exactly? All of us?" I rested my head on the cabinets behind me, the Advil obviously not taking effect quick enough.

"No, no. If they were, Feli and I would have been locked in our rooms, too."

"So they were trying to kill me? _Perché_?" I felt my throat tighten up. Gil's grip on my hand tightened.

"Well, I'm sure if Feli or I died in the fire, it'd be a bonus, but come on Desi. If you die, what happens?" He waved his hand at me, waiting for the answer.

"I don't know?"

"Feli and I would be _distraught_. And us being so upset, it'd be incredibly easy to pick us off." Lovi retracted his hand and crossed back his arms.

My mouth formed a small 'o' of understanding. Lovi continued his explanation.

"And I'm sure the potato-bastard and the tomato-bastard would both be sad, about us dying, so they're out, too."

Ludwig tensed up at hearing the predicament about his own demise. Which is understandable.

"Then the other potato-bastard that isn't a nation is gone, followed shortly by wine-bastard, who has lost his only friends. After him, tea-bastard gets all depressed because even though he and wine-bastard fight a lot, they happen to be friends. Then Alfred is dead because he's gonna kill himself then that other guy is going to die, too. "

"Why do you automatically assume Alfred's going to kill himself? And by that other guy do you mean Matthew?"

"Because I know the freak. And yes. See you'd think the line of destruction would stop there, but no. Because Elizabeta is upset about Feliciano, here. So she's out, along with piano-bastard, gun-bastard, and Lili. No one gives two shits about Vash, but people like Lili, so there goes Ravis, Feliks, and Emil. Emil has a lot of brothers. You get the point. And anyone who isn't already dead knows it's coming, and is _paralyzed _with the fear that they could be next." Lovi finished up, and it made sense.

Killing me would have to be the most logical way. Lovi left out Kiku, but I'm guessing he assumes I'm aware that if Ludwig and Feli are dead, he'll soon follow after, with his brothers and sisters. And Ivan.

If you killed anyone else, you wouldn't get the exact same result. Of course it has to be me, because it just can't be Noru or Ravis or anything.

"How do you know all this?" my head sank into my hand, and I gripped my forehead.

"They told us." Feli chirped, sounding too cheery for this particular situation. I couldn't tell if his ignorance of the seriousness of this situation was real, or if he was faking it to try and lighten the mood.

"You've had conversations with them?"

"_Si_, they have targeted us more than once, and each time they usually tell us a little about themselves before trying to murder us and stuff. We got a voicemail from them after they tried to kill you when you were on vacation, which is why I decided you'd be safer with us."

"That was them? So it wasn't an accident?"

"Nope."

"Do you know what they want?"

"Ve.. It's really cliché; they apparently want to take over the world." Feli paused, "Well, what's left of it after they've killed everyone they aren't working with, that is."

"Then why do they call themselves _Cacciatori Immortali_?"

"It's quite hypocritical of them really. " Lovi scoffed, returning to his place in the conversation. "They say that we don't belong on this earth. We're unnatural; I've heard them use the word abomination once, too. I was pretty damn surprised, seeing as I wasn't aware their small brains could remember such a complex word." He shook his head, "A lot of the people they associate with as allies are actually personifications of _something_. I'm pretty sure Russia is with them." He scrunched up his face.

"Ivan?" Ludwig questioned.

"No, the fucking muffin man." Lovi spat back at him.

Feli waved off his brother's rising temper, "Anyways, if Ivan is helping them that could be a problem, because he has a lot of influence on the other countries. He's scary." Feli shivered appropriately.

Gil spoke up, "So what's the plan?"

Everyone stared at him in confusion. "Plan?" Feli said quietly, most likely muttering the word to himself.

Gil nodded once, "Yes, plan. You mean you don't have one?"

"No?"

"So we're just going to let these freaks pick us off?"

"Erm…"

Whatever Feliciano was about to say was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and closing and you could feel the cold wind from outside enter the house before its entrance was sealed off.

"I'm home." A soft voice called out, to the abnormally quite house. After a second, Sydney's head appeared in the doorway, with confusion written all over her face.

Her cheeks were bright red, matching her nose perfectly, having just returned from a movie with Berwald and Tino, and standing out in the cold for a long period of time.

"Why are you guy's still here? Doesn't Desi have an appointment in…?" She paused and glanced at the paper on the fridge, "Ten minutes?" She finished, and turned her head back to us.

Lovi slapped his forehead, "Therapy." He muttered. He grabbed hold of my hand, "We'll talk later." He called over his shoulder, and dragged me out the door, being sure to grab Gil's keys from the bowl on the counter.

WwWwWw

My therapist was a bitch.

She had Lovi and me there for _hours_.

But she's good at her job, because the eyes don't appear anymore when Lovi isn't in the room.

She says I'm strong mentally, and that it should have taken much longer for me to be able to fight my separation anxiety. She had said at the beginning of the session that she wasn't letting us leave until I could stay by myself in the room for a minute without freaking out. I didn't tell her that I was still scared, because she'd keep us there longer.

Knowing Lovi wouldn't have to follow me around everywhere now made me feel like less of a burden, but I still felt paranoid when he wasn't by my side, but I didn't burst into tears anymore.

I still don't understand why my appointment was at 7:00. Who makes a therapy appointment at seven? At seven I should have been watching a movie, or I'd probably be drilling Lovi for more answers. Well, it was midnight when we got home.

I eased myself out of Gil's truck and stood next to Lovi, who was sliding his key over the paint, leaving a very noticeable line.

"Whoops. Damn shame, he had a nice paint job, too." He tsked and grabbed my hand to support me. I was feeling strong than I was this morning, but I'd been growing weaker with the late hours. I leaned against him in half consciousness as he led me through the frigid air, into the big house in front of us. I was exhausted, because I've been going all day, not really having any chance to rest at all.

My eyelids were heavy as we walked through the silent house; the only sounds were the soft tapping of our shoes on the tile, and the faint sound of the wind outside.

I had some trouble getting up the stairs with my legs being so sore, but I needed exercise, and I'd have to do this eventually, so why not now. Lovi held my waist, trying to keep some of the weight off my legs so it'd be easier, but it really didn't help much.

Aster, Blackie, and Berliz were all at the top of the stairs, obviously guarding the door behind them.

"_That Ludwig's room_?" I quested sleepily, slipping into Italian.

"_Yeah, you can see that the stupid dogs don't care so much for his idiot brother_." Lovi replied and jerked her head in the direction of the door a ways down from Ludwig's, with "I'M AWESOME" and "5 METERS" graffitied all over the door, no need to guess who the room belongs to.

We walked a ways and turned a corner before arriving at my room, where once Lovi opened the door I stumbled to my bed and face planted.

"You need me here?" Lovi asked, he would off stayed without asking, but my therapist said I should try and spend as much time away from him as I could, to decrease my dependency on him.

After a second, I shook my head into the pillow, inwardly sighing. Lovi dismissed himself and backed out of my room, heading for his own, where Feliciano was certainly waiting for him.

I was able to lift myself off the bed and change into my pajamas in record time. I snuggled myself deep into the soft blanket.

I keep chanting in my mind that I was fine, that Lovi was only down the hallway, and it worked, because the terror stayed away, and I was able to give into the darkness behind my eyelids.

WwWwWwW

I bolted upright in my bed, clutching at the flimsy fabric covering my chest.

My breath was coming out in hard puffs, and I struggled to catch my breath, because I felt like I had just run a marathon.

I tried to recover the fleeting memories of my nightmare, wondering what had freaked me out so much, but they escaped me. I hated never being able to remember what I dreamed about, because then I'd be able to cope with the after effects better.

The silence in my room was suffocating, and I knew I had to get out before I had an episode and sent the whole house running.

I took a quick glance at my clock, and sighed after discovering I had only made it about an hour alone. I slid off my bed and gingerly tested my legs, wondering if they would hold me up. After finding out they could, I walked the few paces to my door and opened it enough to slip out of, being careful not to make any noise so Carmine wouldn't be disturbed from his slumber in his brand new cage.

I walked down the large hallway, pausing a bit outside Lovi's door, where I could hear Feli's soft ve's, before making up my mind and continuing down the hall.

I turned a corner and walked a bit more, my legs starting to feel weak again and stopped outside Gilbert's door. I had only hesitated for a second before easing it open and slipping inside.

Gil's room was the same size and shape as mine, but his bed was larger and pushed up against the wall where my desk was, and he had a running laptop placed on his desk that was facing the door. He had written all over his wallpaper, from what I could see through the light the laptop was giving off. His guitars were propped up on the wall beside me, and I felt a pang of longing, wishing I still had mine.

I glanced at the shape on the bed, on the side closest to me, his back turned. I walked over and climbed over him to get to the other side of the bed, causing him to awake with a start.

"-zur Hölle?" he said groggily, attempting to blink the sleep out of his eyes. His tensed up muscles relaxed as he discovered it was me and I slid myself under he bed sheets next to him. "_Singvogel_? What's wrong?"

"I'm coming to sleep with you." I answered, and his mouth corners jerked upward a bit, from what I could tell from the poor lighting.

"Sex?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"Not that kind of sleeping with."

"Aw." Gil said jokingly, while pulling me closer to him, I snaked my arms around him and his grip tightened.

"No sex." I mumbled, and Gil chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, yeah. Go to sleep."

The only sounds filling the room were mine and Gil's breath, and from where my head was, his heartbeat. The soft _ba-dump_'s eventually brought me back to sleep.

WwWwWwWw

Lovi never figured out about Gil and me sleeping in the same room, because we both woke up before everyone else, me before him and I used the time in between to braid as much strands of his hair as I could.

He looked absolutely ridiculous when he woke up, and after finding out how to undo them, about hair his hair was now wavy while the other half was still straight.

Ludwig found us in the kitchen preparing breakfast for everyone, out of the kindness of our hearts. Well, he actually found Gil changing my bandages, with me staring at the ceiling, not looking at my burns, and from the angle Ludwig came in from, I had no doubt that it looked like we were doing something wrong.

After a small freak out and a calming realization, Ludwig took over the cooking, because the bacon was about to start burning.

I gripped the side of the table I was sitting on while Gil rolled the gauzes around a burn tightly. While tightly wrapped, I couldn't feel the burns, but while they were being wrapped was another story. I hissed in pain as he finished the last bandage on my leg.

"Oh, man up Des." Gil said with a smirk, and patted me lightly on the shoulder. I slid off the wooden table onto one of the chairs and took a deep breath.

"That sucked." I muttered and Gil nodded.

"You started crying the first time when you were in the hospital; Lovino thought they were killing you." He chuckled a bit, and proceeded to aid Ludwig at the stove, but was promptly batted away.

"You'll destroy the kitchen." Ludwig said firmly, and angled his body so Gilbert couldn't even look at the food.

Gil sighed and sat in the chair next to mine. He started tapping his fingers impatiently on the table, so I started to entertain him with a game. I taught him how to play Slide, and he was shocked by how much the game actually hurt your hands.

He was a bit reluctant to play full speed at first, but he eventually gave in, but kept messing up and sending us back to one.

Sydney came downstairs after about ten minutes, book in hand. After a quiet "Hello.", she sat on the other side of Gil and opened her book to a dog-eared page. I got a quick glance at the title page and smiled. I myself loved Nicholas Sparks and the book "Safe Haven" was one of my favorites.

I decided not to comment on it, and continued playing Slide with Gilbert.

He muttered the numbers under his breath, trying not to screw up, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I, 2, 3- Dammit!" He cried as his hands slipped from their position on mine, and he missed his next move. The back of his hands were and angry red from where they were hitting mine, and I was positive mine mirrored his.

"Gosh Gil, stop messing up!" I threw my hands up in mock-frustration, and Gil started pouting.

"Why can't we just play Patty Cake, awesome people are better that that game, this one sucks." He declared, and crossed his arms, refusing to play another game.

We started a staring contest and were both still going strong until Ludwig made Gil serve the food while he went and woke up Feliciano and Lovino.

A few minutes after he disappeared from the kitchen, you could hear shouts coming from an angry Italian, who was not pleased in the slightest about being woken up.

Feli bounded into the kitchen, and plopped down in front of a plate of pasta, that I assumed Ludwig knew he would beg to have some for breakfast no matter what was already made. He was followed by a pissed off Lovi and a tired looking Ludwig, who held the bridge of his nose between two of his fingers, eyes closed like he was trying to calm an oncoming headache.

WwWwWwW

I came down with a fever later that day, which really pissed me off because I had wanted to go to school the next day, but Lovi would never let me.

Gil said it was because my immune system was at a low right now, and I should be getting sick kind of often for a while.

Feliciano and Lovino had to go out to look for jobs, because they finally succeeded in contacting their boss, who demanded that we pay for our own house, because we've been wasting too much of their money. Apparently, he's my boss now too, and he said I had the option of attending World Conferences, and eventually get paid, if I did anything I was supposed to, unlike Feli and Lovi.

Ludwig accompanied them, because Feli on caffeine high in the streets of New York was too much for Lovi to handle by himself. Whoever pointed out the coffee to Feli must've been on drugs.

Since I was deemed sick, I was forced to spend all day on the couch, with Sydney and Gil as company. It was only a few minutes after Feli, Lovi, and Ludwig left before Sydney excused herself to her room, where from downstairs we could hear the soft sounds of her practicing her flute.

I sat curled up to Gil as we watched "My Sister's Keeper" I had never seen the movie before, and was completely taken with it within the first twenty minutes.

By the end of the movie, I was of course, crying. Gil wiped away my tears with his thumb.

"Why are you crying, _liebling_? It's a beautiful ending." He asked, and I looked up at him, wondering if he was insane.

"She's dead Gil, how is that beautiful?" I said, frowning.

"She died happy. And it really shows the love between a girl, her mother, and her sister." He pointed out, and grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels.

I nodded into his shoulder, "I miss Ella." I sighed.

"What about your _bruder_?"

"Not so much."

"Why?"

"He doesn't really feel like my brother. I guess he isn't. But he never treated me like a sister, always just as a burden that was pushed onto him by our parents. He's not that nice to me either." I stated, I could have gone on, but I didn't feel right. I grew up with him, and he is family. Not biologically, but still. He was important. Thinking that Ezio hated me made my eyes start to tear up. I couldn't understand _why_.

"I'm sure he loves you. He just doesn't show it in an awesome way." Gil shrugged, and I sighed again.

"I sure hope so."

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter. So, I don't actually go over a chapter that much before I post it, so there are usually a few mistakes. I try and fix them, but sometimes I just don't get around to it, which is why I get really mad when I find mistakes in the earlier chapters, because to fix them I'd need to replace them and junk and I'm like, lazy.<strong>

**I still need OC's, more evil people please! When Desi goes back to school (which I'm hoping is in the next chapter), everyone's OC's will get a little scene or something. OH, and I finally planned out everything I want to happen in this story and the sequel. Yay!**

**~Ayai**


	14. AN: Still accepting Evil's, NEW APP

Okay so, we're good on good guys, now we still need more bad people, because I only have like, two.

APPLICATION FOR THE EVIL PEOPLE

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Sexual Orientation:

Personification (they can be human too) of:

Personality:

Description:

Do they have an "evil catchphrase"?:

Attending HWA ( Again, you can be human and still go to HWA, as long as you're good friends with a country):

If human and are attending HWA, who is/are your personification friend(s)?:

Do they have any sort of mental disorder? If so, what is it?:

Do they have the urge to take over the world?:

Dating someone?:

Any role models?:

Favorite villain?:

So yeah, use this new application for evil people, because I've got enough goodies.


	15. Chapter 15

Lovi was arguing with our boss on the phone, being very animated while talking, his was stamping his foot and waving his free hand around, no doubt fighting about the money he wasn't going to pay us.

Feli and I watched with interest in our eyes as Lovi hurled insult after insult at the man on the other end of the line, and eventually he growled and smashed his phone into the ground.

"So?" Feli said. He looked incredibly ridiculous with his head tilted to the side, because it was being weighed down by a small monkey, who had gripped his hair and leaned back. Carmine loved playing with Feliciano, I assume it's because they act so much like each other at times. Feli liked Carmine, but I don't think he enjoyed him always messing with his curl. I was amazed that he hadn't learned to stay away from that portion of his head, because every time he got near it, he was abruptly removed by either Lovino or Ludwig. Which is why Carmine now wasn't a big fan of either of them.

"That bastard isn't giving us our money until we pay him back." He sank down into the couch next to us, where Feli and I were curled up watching cartoons before they had to leave for school. Lovi refused to let me go even after my fever broke last night, saying that it might come back or something.

I furrowed my brows in confusion, "Pay him back? For what?"

"Feli and I blew up two of his private jets."

"….Why?"

Feli straightened out his back and gave Lovi a non frightening glare, "I didn't blow up the planes _fratello_, _you _did."

Feli is kind of pissed at the moment; he doesn't want to leave me here all by myself in the mansion. He and Lovi were fighting earlier on whether I should go to school so they could keep an eye on me, or leave me here, easy for the C.I to get to. Lovi won that fight by telling him that they had no idea we were here, and that even if they did they'd never get past the guards stationed all around the estate.

"_They were contaminated, Feliciano. I did it for his health._" Lovi glared back, and crossed his arms stubbornly across his chest. This reminded me of the past few summers, when we would rarely ever used English to speak, why would we, when we all share Italian as a primary language?

Feli looked at me, "_Francis had only taken a look around in both of them._" He explained, and we both turned back to stare at Lovino.

"_What, dammit_? _He got his rape germs everywhere! I didn't want our boss to get an STD_." Lovi flinched as Carmine pulled on his ear, "Damn monkey." he muttered, while giving the monkey on his shoulder the best "I fucking hate you" stare he could manage.

I let my head rest on the back of the couch and watched the ceiling with interest, "So, we have to get real jobs, to pay our boss, to get money from our boss."

Lovi scowled, "_Si_."

"Go to school," I sighed, "I'm sure Ludwig is ready, and Gil should be about finished doing his hair by now."

Feli tore his gaze away from the flat screen and lifted himself off the couch I had no intention to move from. He grabbed his book bag from the floor and dragged Lovi out of his spot to call up the stairs.

"Ve~ let's go, Luddy!"

"You're going to make us late, bastards."

"We still have an hour, _fratello_." Feliciano blinked at his brother in confusion.

"They don't know that, I changed the time on their clocks." Lovi replied in time to hear a delighted shout from the second floor.

"West! We're now fashionably late, we can go!" Gil banged on what I assume to be Ludwig's door before sliding down the banister, much like a child, but he made it look good. I smiled as he slid into view, with his back towards me. I heard angry muttering begin when a door opened, than shut again, and Ludwig and Sydney joined the small crowd at the bottom of the stairs.

Lovi put on his fedora and Feli already had on his jacket, they were both waiting impatiently at the door, Lovi tapping his foot while Feli bounced in place.

Sydney slipped her sweater over her head and adjusted it so it didn't look crumpled, then took Gil's keys from the bowl by the door and announced she was going to warm up the car. With a small wave at me, she was out the door.

Gil teased his hair, trying to get it just right while staring at his reflection in one of the many mirrors around the house. He would tilt his head and run his fingers through the short sliver locks, only to have them return to the exact same place they were before. He glared at himself before shouldering his bag. Ludwig and Feliciano said their goodbyes to me, and Lovi kept his eyes trained on the albino, who was approaching me fast.

He leaned down and kissed the top of my head, then followed it up by ruffling my hair. He leaned down a bit more so he was on level with my ear, and whispered, "Be dressed by lunchtime," then pulled back and winked before following Ludwig, Feliciano, and an angry Lovino out the door.

I smiled and curled up at the end of the couch, flicking through the channels on the T.V, finally settling on watching a "Grey's Anatomy" marathon.

~8~

After about five hours of the medical drama that was now one of my favorite shows, I was forced to leave my comfy position on the couch to trudge upstairs, slowing heading for my room, pondering over the new developments in the show.

I sat on one of the windowsills at the top of the stairs to rest my legs, while gazing out onto the grounds behind the house. I glared at the light layer of snow covering the ground, wishing it would just disappear, because I was already tired of the cold. The way it nipped at your skin made me mad, like it was just waiting for something to give it a chance to take you over completely.

I looked down at the spotless tile flooring, studying my reflection. The only traits I could pick out were the brown curls and the pale skin.

I coughed into my hand, and my throat tightened up. I felt my lungs protesting with every breath I took, telling me to stop breathing.

I could taste the smoke on my tongue, and smell the gas in the air, and was blinded by just how fast this came on.

I launched myself off my perch on the windowsill and down the hallway that was rapidly filling with smoke. The only thing that I could think of was running away, but there wasn't anywhere to run to. My skin heated up as I kept moving, heading towards my room, seeming some form of protection. Carmine still clung helplessly to my shoulder as I sprinted down the long corridor, just as in shock as I was.

The dull ache that was residing in my legs before had vanished, leaving behind a refreshed, powerful feeling that I took advantage of, making my strides longer and faster.

In no time, I had flung open the door to my room and slammed it. The smell of the gas was stronger in here, and I did the only thing I could think of, flee into my closet.

I just kept chanting "_Not again, not again_," in my head. Or at least I thought it was in my head.

I cowered in the small, dark space, wondering what the hell was going on. I survived the first fire, but only by the skin of my teeth. And I still wasn't fully recovered; the C.I was actually going to attack me again, without giving me any resting time at all?

Through half lidded eyes, I could see the smoke seeping into the closet through the cracks on the door. It swirled up around me, its stench filling my nose. I could easily hear the crackling of the fire, as it was right outside the door, and an occasional ember fluttered into my hiding spot.

It would have been more logical for me to have gotten out of the house instead of hiding in the closet, which as you learned at a young age, was something you were not supposed to do.

I backed up as much as possible, refusing to stop until my back was firmly against the wall, and the top of my head was brushing the hems of the skirts and dresses above me. I drew my knees up to my chest and cupped my shaking hands over my ears as a futile attempt to block out the sound of the flames.

Each pop from outside my sanctuary sent a bolt of electricity through me, shaking me to my core. I dug my overgrown fingernails into my legs, the pain from them disturbing my burns not enough to make me forget about the fire raging just outside the door.

I screwed my eyes shut, begging for safety. I truly wished to be anywhere in the world, anywhere as long as it wasn't this house.

A small tugging on my hair made me peek through my eyelashes, and my eyes met Carmine's, whose entire being was radiating worry, and he looked at me and cocked his head, as if asking _what's wrong?_

I raised my arm and wiped the sweat off my forehead, the rising temperature making my distress level rise considerably. I couldn't help but fear for the unknown, for what would happen to me once I died. My Mama had always been a religious person, and it passed off to me, I guess. I was a good catholic, I say was, because I've broken quite a few rules ever since I hit puberty, and I regret it. I never did before now, but I've made so many mistakes with my life, and I desperately wish I could turn back the time, and do everything over again, making all the right choices this time. Mama told me when I was just a little girl, that when you pass away, you go to a better place. That place was filled with the people you love, that had left the Earth before you, and pain no longer existed. Illnesses dispersed, the lame walked again, and the blind could see.

But now what? I'm not a human, what happens to me? Where do I go?

Do I fade into history? Maybe, but I'm not even a real nation.

Here I am, with more questions and no answers.

A loud bang coming from my room made me jump and begin shuddering, clutching at my shoulders, only to have Carmine try and push my hands away.

I coughed into my arms for a while, my fit leaving me breathless and gasping for the tainted air, just causing my throat to burn even more.

Another bang, closer and louder than the first, ripped through the air. I sucked in, my lungs screaming in protest as I watched the closet door slam open, a familiar figure standing in the doorway.

"Des?"

And it was all gone.

The sounds, the smoke, the ache in my throat, it all disappeared.

The crimson eyes staring at me were clouded with confusion and concern. Gilbert got on his knees next to me, gently pulling me into his arms. The feelings of terror were immediately washed away by his warmth, and I leaned into him, my shuddering ceasing.

His hand rubbed my arm, making the goose bumps go away, and he rested his head on mine, "_Liebling_," he began, speaking softly, "what happened?"

I shrugged, letting my shoulders fall harshly, "I don't know, Gil." I quickly composed my thoughts, "I thought there was a fire." I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion, and bit the inside of my lip.

He nodded, and stood, pulling me up with him, keeping a firm grip on my upper arm, in case I found I couldn't keep my balance. I was thankful for that, because my knees did in fact feel a bit weak. I was able to stand up on my own after a second, though, so Gilbert released my arm and I settled for just leaning into him.

Carmine had raced out of the closet when Gil had first opened the door, and he was watching us from his perch on my headboard, waiting for us to turn our attention to him. Gil and I walked over, and I flopped down onto the bed, reaching out to rub Carmine's back. I took deep, calming breaths, my heart rate finally returning to semi-normal.

I sighed, "Sorry I'm not ready." I apologized, burying my face into the blankets.

Gilbert laughed, and rubbed my head, making me scowl, "It's okay, we don't have to go out to eat! I'm awesome enough that I can cook lunch for us." He gripped my hand and pulled me off the bed, ignoring my protests at being dragged around. With a quick movement he managed to get me pressed up to his back, and my arms around his neck. He got out of his knee bent position and I was forced to wrap my legs around his waist to keep from falling.

He ran out the door, me squealing out of shock, and began the trip down the hallway and to the stairs, leading to what was going to be an interesting lunch.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm sorry for not updating for like, three months, but I've had absolutely no inspiration whatsoever.<strong>

**And I've realized I don't like this fic.**

**This chapter sucks, and it's short. The first half was written three months ago, and the last one was an hour ago, so if there's a noticeable change in writing style, that's why.**

**I've decided I don't want to continue this fic.**

**So it's either going on most likely permanent hiatus, or I'm putting it up for adoption if anyone wants to continue it. Message me and I'll tell you the plot I had planned out, and you can follow it or not, I don't care. You can even use the plot but with your own OC's, just tell me if you are.**

**I have better stories, and I'll have more stories in the future, so keep an eye out.**

**Sorry for such a bad fic xD I don't like how I wrote it, but I did like the plot.**

_**~Ayai**_

_**Messege me if you're interested in adopting~**_


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